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After about 48:37 in the really wonderful video Jocelyn Bell Burnell Special Public Lecture: The Discovery of Pulsars (linked below) Dr. Bell Burnell describes the invention of the word "pulsar" do describe the pulsating radio sources she'd discovered.

One of the many humorous bits caught my attention:

These days as you know the name has traveled. There's watches called pulsars, certainly in the UK there's models of Nissan cars, you can sometimes find geraniums called pulsars, same name.

I'm told that in the United States the watch company tried suing the radio astronomers for use of the name!

The words "I'm told that..." suggests that this may be difficult to track down easily, but the story might be known to other astronomers or there may be other recountings of this.

Question: Did a watch company really try to sue radio astronomers for using the word "pulsar"? If so, which astronomers were the likely targets? All of them? Could it have been a radio astronomical society rather than an individual astronomer?

Jocelyn Bell Burnell, winner of the 2018 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, delivered a special talk at Perimeter Institute about her 1967 discovery of pulsars and her remarkable career in physics.

uhoh
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  • poignant NY Times video: I Changed Astronomy Forever. He Won the Nobel Prize for It. and some related material in How bright is the Crab Pulsar's 30 Hz modulation in visible light? What color is it? and also Who first reported the Crab pulsar's pulsing but was dismissed by an astronomer? – uhoh Sep 13 '21 at 13:28
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    if answers aren't forthcoming here, this question might be more at home on [skeptics.se] – Aaron F Sep 13 '21 at 15:18
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    @AaronF I know what you mean. I'll keep an eye on it to see how it goes. It would need some rewriting first in order to meet the Skeptics SE question style. Let's see if any Astronomy "folklore" is forthcoming first. Thanks! – uhoh Sep 13 '21 at 15:23
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    It seems rather unlikely, "Pulsar" is used by both Seiko (for watches) and Nissan (for cars) If Seiko's lawyers can live with cars being called "pulsars" it would be surprising for them to actually sue astronomers.... Perhaps some kind of search triggered an automatic letter. I doubt it was a serious attempt to sue. – James K Sep 13 '21 at 19:01
  • @JamesK since she mentioned "In the United States" there may be more to the story than just Seiko HQ in Japan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiko#Seiko_in_the_United_States I think we should have some confidence that after her long career as a serious astronomer Dr. Bell Burnell wouldn't be just pulling people's leg or spinning baseless yarns. I think she should be viewed as a highly credible source. – uhoh Sep 13 '21 at 20:57
  • @JamesK I've listened through the entire talk (if you haven't, give it a try!) and she is painstakingly careful with how she words every sentence. So when she says "tried suing" there's a good chance she actually means "tried suing". That said, I'll have a few more questions because there are one or two other things that may benefit from some clarification as well. – uhoh Sep 13 '21 at 21:13
  • Does she mention who actually coined the word "pulsar"? I get the impression from my searches that it was Hewish, but I couldn't find anything definitive. – PM 2Ring Sep 13 '21 at 21:14
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    @PM2Ring Yes, she says "It was Anthony Michaelis who came up with the name Pulsar" which is the name in the first bullet on the slide showing when she says this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_R._Michaelis "Whilst at the Daily Telegraph, in 1968, Michaelis was the first person to coin and use the term "Pulsar" to describe the discovery of Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish of the 'Pulsating Radio star' in 1967." – uhoh Sep 13 '21 at 21:20
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    @JamesK thought not yet ready for prime time, there's an answer that explains that Seiko only recently took possession of the US company that made and sold pulsars. Seeing them in the linked Wikipedia article, I think I saw one or two at the time, I don't think there were many companies that sold red LED 7-segment wristwatches. https://youtu.be/iNJVCEvq2cE – uhoh Sep 14 '21 at 09:53
  • @uhoh "Dr. Bell Burnell wouldn't be just pulling people's leg or spinning baseless yarns. I think she should be viewed as a highly credible source." - yes, she is a highly credible source, but, she says "I'm told that" which means that she's relating second- or third-hand evidence. The person who told her that might not be a highly credible source and might have just been pulling her leg :-) – Aaron F Sep 16 '21 at 10:23
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    @AaronF we don't know what she means by it exactly, but if she wasn't certain it was a credible source I doubt she'd say it at this event with the cameras rolling. – uhoh Sep 16 '21 at 11:11

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