= Russell Alan Hulse
{c}
{tag=Physicist}
{wiki}
= Russell A. Hulse
{c}
{synonym}
= R. A. Hulse
{c}
{synonym}
<Russell Alan Hulse> discovered a <pulsar> whose measured pulse period changed systematically during repeated observations. With <Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr.>, he interpreted the variations as orbital <Doppler shifts> in a compact <binary star> system.
The changing period was the clue rather than a defect in the clock. A regular intrinsic pulse train observed from an orbiting source provides a <radial velocity> curve and orbital timing information. The discovery created a laboratory for later tests of relativistic <gravity>, including the loss of orbital <energy> through <gravitational radiation>.<Discovery of a Pulsar in a Binary System by Russell Alan Hulse and Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr.>[p. L51, period variation and binary interpretation]{ref}<The Discovery of the Binary Pulsar by Russell Alan Hulse>[Nobel lecture: search, variable-period observations and recognition of orbital motion]{ref}
\Image[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Redirect/file/Russell_Alan_Hulse_(cropped).jpg?width=260]
{title=Portrait of <Russell Alan Hulse>}
{description=ENERGY.GOV; existing Commons crop by Wabbuh. Public domain in the United States (US Department of Energy employee work). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Russell_Alan_Hulse_(cropped).jpg#Licensing[Source usage terms], via Wikimedia Commons.}
{source=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Russell_Alan_Hulse_(cropped).jpg}
{width=260}
Back to article page
