I grew up in Newquay, on the Atlantic coast and there developed a love of the sea and boats.

I was educated at King's College, Taunton and went to the University of Cambridge in 1942.

Teaching physics at the University, and more general lecturing to wider audiences has been a major concern.

I believe scientists have a duty to share the excitement and pleasure of their work with the general public, and I enjoy the challenge of presenting difficult ideas in an understandable way.

Jocelyn Bell joined the project as a graduate student in 1965, helping as a member of the construction team and then analysing the paper charts of the sky survey.

Thus I was able to make pioneering measurements of the height and physical scale of plasma clouds in the ionosphere and also to estimate wind speeds in this region.