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Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Radio astronomer; discoverer of pulsars

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
The next generation of telescopes will see millions of events per night with computers that sift through huge amounts of data. If we had had access to a computer, we would never have programmed it to look for something so unexpected. How do you pick up the things you don't know exist, the things you can't tell it to look for? My project was to study quasars, and then we accidentally stumble over these things called pulsars. They were totally unexpected, totally unknown – and it's been huge fun.

Louise Walsh, University of Cambridge 'Journeys of Discovery' interview series, 1 January 2020 source ↗

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Nithin Kamath Co-founder and chief executive of Zerodha
Sleep has to be, by far, the most underrated aspect of good health. I think sleeping less & working more is glorified. Life is like a marathon; if you run too fast and don't pace yourself, you can burn out, and you probably won't be able to finish strong.
Recorded Kamath's own social account, Nithin Kamath's blog, 30 December 2022 source ↗
Alice Waters Chef, restaurateur and food activist
I believe that that is a fast-food myth to get us out there buying whatever they’re selling because I know that beans and greens are very, very affordable.
Recorded Scott Simon, NPR, Weekend Edition, NPR (Weekend Edition), 29 May 2021 source ↗
Roger Penrose Mathematical physicist; Nobel laureate in Physics, 2020
Now according to me, and this is my cosmology scheme, which I'm having trouble persuading the cosmologists about, is that when the universe is rid of pretty well all its matter, it in a certain sense forgets how big it is. Now that's a crazy idea, but you see if you don't have any mass around you don't have any way of scaling the size of the universe, and so it in effect becomes the big bang of the next aeon as I'm calling it – A E O N. So according to my scheme, the universe as we currently understand it, which is from big bang, and then there's this inflationary phase which I don't believe in, which is supposed to take place very, very early on, and then the universe has this more sedate expansion, and then it has another exponential expansion, and that's it. According to me, that's not it. It morphs into the next big bang.
Recorded Adam Smith, Telephone interview recorded shortly after the prize announcement, Nobel Prize Outreach, 6 October 2020 source ↗
Sonia Sotomayor Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 2009–present
Well, what's very interesting is that those people read our opinions which can be, at moments, rather animated. An animated exchange in writing among the justices. And many people who read our opinions think we have to be at each other's necks constantly. It's interesting we're not. When we're talking about cases at our conference it's generally a conversation. It's really a talk about what our perspectives are and why we have reached the conclusions we've reached.
Recorded Terry Gross, Fresh Air, NPR, 13 January 2014 source ↗

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Question How does a new piece of work usually begin for you? Craft & work
From one particular piece of the sky an unclassifiable signal sometimes recurred and my brain started to say: “You’ve seen something like this before, haven’t you? You’ve seen something like this before from this bit of the sky , haven’t you?” I got out previous recordings from that bit of sky. It often wasn’t there, but when it was, it was keeping its place amongst the stars.
Recorded Louise Walsh, University of Cambridge 'Journeys of Discovery' interview series, 1 January 2020 source ↗
Question What is one of the best investments you have made — of money, time, or energy? Money & investment
Yes, in 2018, I was awarded the Breakthrough Prize for the discovery. I was a bit dumbstruck, never expecting that kind of thing to happen. I was keen that the money should be used well and the best way to do that seemed to be to encourage a more diverse research student population from under-represented groups.
Recorded Louise Walsh, University of Cambridge 'Journeys of Discovery' interview series, 1 January 2020 source ↗
Question How has a setback or failure set you up for later success? Failure & regret
My contemporaries were more upset about the Nobel than I was not to be recognised. One of them labelled it the 'No-Bell' prize! But it was fine by me. There's no Nobel Prize in astronomy and I was really proud that it was my stars that had convinced the prize committee that there was good physics in astrophysics.
Recorded Louise Walsh, University of Cambridge 'Journeys of Discovery' interview series, 1 January 2020 source ↗
Question What is an unusual habit or small pleasure you are oddly fond of? Daily life
Occasionally there would be something I didn’t recognise and I’d record it with a question mark or, as a joke, LGM for Little Green Men. It was easier than saying “you know that funny pulsing source at right ascension 1919, declination plus 20”. So, it became LGM.
Recorded Louise Walsh, University of Cambridge 'Journeys of Discovery' interview series, 1 January 2020 source ↗

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