Pulsars at Parkes

TL;DR

This paper reviews the history and achievements of pulsar research at Parkes, highlighting its role in discovering most known pulsars and advancing pulsar studies from 1968 to 2006.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of Parkes' significant contributions to pulsar discovery and research over several decades.

Findings

Discovered nearly two thirds of known pulsars

Led in pulsar polarisation and timing studies

Established the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array

Abstract

The first pulsar observations were made at Parkes on March 8, 1968, just 13 days after the publication of the discovery paper by Hewish and Bell. Since then, Parkes has become the world's most successful pulsar search machine, discovering nearly two thirds of the known pulsars, among them many highly significant objects. It has also led the world in pulsar polarisation and timing studies. In this talk I will review the highlights of pulsar work at Parkes from those 1968 observations to about 2006 when the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey was essentially completed and the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array project was established.