The discovery of neutron stars by Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who was not awarded the corresponding Nobel Prize

Marie Curie's research in radioactivity made her the first woman to win a Nobel Prize

Overcoming social and academic barriers, Curie's realization that radiation resulted from an intrinsic property of atoms reframed scientific understanding of the phenomenon. Her subsequent work in discovering two new elements—polonium and radium—earned her a second Nobel Prize.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin discovered stars are mostly made of hydrogen and helium

At 25, her doctoral thesis challenged the then-common belief that stars were composed similarly to Earth. Several years later, Henry Norris Russell, who had initially dismissed her findings, independently made the same discovery and received credit for it.

The discovery of nuclear fission was facilitated by the discovery of the neutron

The discovery of the neutron provided scientists with a particle that could penetrate the nucleus and advance atomic physics. Otto Hahn was the sole Nobel recipient for the discovery of fission, despite collaborating with Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann.

In 1974, a pair of neutron stars provided the first evidence of gravitational waves

Observations of a pulsar—a rapidly rotating neutron star that emits light—revealed it to be part of a system of two stars that orbited one another in a shrinking orbit, indicating gradual energy loss. Calculations showed that the changing orbit was consistent with gravitational waves predicted to carry energy away from such a system.

Despite the discovery of dark matter, Vera Rubin never won a Nobel Prize

In the 1970s, Rubin and collaborator Kent Ford revealed that galaxies rotate in a way only explainable by vast amounts of unseen mass, now known as dark matter. The transformative discovery did not warrant a Nobel Prize, which was only awarded to two women in physics from 1901 to 2017.

The 2011 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for the discovery of dark energy

Through the use of standard candles—objects whose brightness is well-known—astronomers can determine distances by recognizing that the same phenomena will dim in predictable ways with increasing distance. By observing the same type of bright stellar explosion at various locations, Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Riess identified that the universe's expansion was increasing.

The 2017 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to LIGO's founders

Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne, and Barry Barish won the award for their contributions to the detector a year after the discovery of gravitational waves was announced. Acknowledging the Nobel statutes limited the prize to no more than three people, Thorne stated, "our marvelous discovery is the work of more than a thousand."

X-rays earned the very first Nobel Prize in physics for revealing hidden worlds

In 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays, which could pass through solid objects and make unseen structures visible. Today’s X-ray tools continue to advance science and medicine, including capturing real-time images of proteins.

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

View a gallery of neutron stars and related phenomena captured by Chandra

Launched on July 23, 1999, the Chandra X-ray Observatory is one of NASA's "Great Observatories" and has captured high-energy astronomical phenomena, including neutron stars and their surrounding nebulae, which are composed of the outer stellar layers expelled by their predecessors. Data from other observatories, including Hubble, help produce spectacular composite images.

Stephen Hawking's biggest discovery—Hawking radiation—came from a major mistake

Hawking radiation may not have been discovered without Jacob Bekenstein first convincing Stephen Hawking that black holes follow the laws of thermodynamics. The graduate student showed that black holes could shrink, setting the stage for Hawking’s most significant contribution.

The first circular particle accelerator was narrower than the average cereal bowl

The 1939 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Ernest Lawrence for inventing the cyclotron. By comparison, the Large Hadron Collider is 5 miles in diameter and is the largest cryogenic system in the world, cooling its electromagnets to temperatures colder than those found in outer space.

Only allowing three recipients causes the Nobel Prize to overlook team discoveries

While science has grown more inclusive and collaborative, the Nobel Prize system still struggles with outdated practices, such as secrecy and a rigid limit on awardees. This restriction sidelines many deserving scientists, especially in complex projects like the human genome or gravitational waves.

How Robert Oppenheimer determined when neutron stars become black holes

Building on the work of Richard Tolman and George Volkoff, Oppenheimer reasoned that, once massive enough, a hypothetical, star-sized atomic nucleus would be unable to stave off gravitational collapse with neutron degeneracy—quantum pressure—alone. The mathematical model estimated the maximum mass of a non-rotating neutron star, known as the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit.

Pigeons were thought to be the cause of what would be evidence of the Big Bang

In 1964, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson accidentally detected the CMB while trying to eliminate persistent static from their radio antenna. The pair initially blamed the signal on pigeon droppings inside their antenna—cleaning it didn’t help, but it did win them a Nobel Prize.

What is a neutron star?

Neutron stars are born in supernova explosions. They are stars with a couple of times our sun’s mass, squeezed into a sphere the size of an earthly city.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

The woman erased from the DNA breakthrough

Rosalind Franklin captured “Photo 51,” the key to DNA’s double helix. Her data, shared without her knowledge, helped Watson and Crick win a Nobel. She never got the prize, but today, her role in unlocking life’s blueprint is finally recognized.

How scientists earned themselves a Nobel Prize by discovering what destroyed ozone

In 1974, chemists Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland showed that chlorofluorocarbons—then used as aerosol propellants, refrigerants, and industrial solvents—rise into the stratosphere and, upon being struck by ultraviolet radiation, release chlorine atoms, which break apart ozone molecules. Their work earned them the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1995.

Hubble's first light test produced an underwhelming photograph

This test represents the first time light travels entirely through an observatory's optical system and reaches its detectors, producing an image. Although the telescope's warped mirror was not discovered and announced until a month after first light, the issue was not responsible for the simplicity of the first light image.

Ten underrated astronomy studies from 2022

The James Webb Space Telescope understandably received a lot of coverage in 2022. This astrophysicist wants to highlight ten major studies published last year you might have missed.

Fermilab's ICARUS experiment is searching for hypothetical sterile neutrinos

Neutrinos are a group of three chargeless, lightweight particles that can transform into one another via a quantum mechanical phenomenon called neutrino oscillations. The rate of these oscillations can be determined by measuring the amount of each type at different distances, where data inconsistencies would suggest the existence of new physics.

Asteroids were discovered by 18th-century planet hunters

While looking for a planet between Mars and Jupiter to coincide with an apparent mathematical pattern in the distances of known planets from the sun, a group calling themselves the "Celestial Police" discovered multiple objects that fell into a new classification.

The Lucasian Chair is among the most prestigious academic positions in science

Once held by icons like Newton, Dirac, and Hawking, the position was founded in 1663. "Star Trek" imagined the Lucasian Chair’s future holder as the android Data, cementing its mythos across scientific and science fiction realms.

Exploring the work of Frances Burney, one of Jane Austen's main influences

Jane Austen is often credited with pioneering the narrative technique of "free indirect discourse," in which a narrator embodies a character's style without using the first-person perspective. But this essay argues Burney is the real innovator and that Austen, a fan of Burney's, continued using the technique to more acclaim.

Judith Resnik was the second American woman to fly in space

A PhD in electrical engineering, Judith "Judy" Resnik flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 1984, becoming the second American woman in space, and later served as a mission specialist on Challenger's STS-51L mission.

In 2012, the Pulitzer Board chose not to award a prize for literature

The literary world was shocked in 2012 when, for the first time in more than three decades, the Pulitzer Board decided not to award a prize for literature. The jury had selected three finalists (Karen Russell's "Swamplandia!," David Foster Wallace's "The Pale King," and Denis Johnson's "Train Dreams) but no winner.

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

Brian Wilson wrote the Beach Boys' 'Don't Worry Baby' for the Ronettes, but the legendary girl group rejected it.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

The first horror movie is believed to be George Méliès' 1986 short 'The Haunted Castle,' which pioneered the use of special effects

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

The tragic Pulitzer Prize-winning image 'The Vulture and the Little Girl' (1993) generated controversy, raised concerns about ethics in photography, and eventually led to the photographer's death.

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

El Niño, Spanish for 'the boy,' was named after Jesus Christ because the phenomenon resembled the weather changes observed around Christmastime.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.