Editing Thomas Gold (section)

===Panspermia and pulsars===

In 1960, Gold collaborated again with Fred Hoyle to show that magnetic energy fueled solar flares and that flares were triggered when opposite magnetic loops interact and release their stored energy.<ref>{{citation|last=Lang|first=Kenneth R.|title=A Companion to Astronomy and Astrophysics: Chronology and Glossary with Data Tables|date=2006|publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]]|location=New York|isbn=978-0-387-30734-3|page=77}}.</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Lang|first=Kenneth R.|title=The Sun from Space|date=2008|edition=2nd|publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]]|location=New York|isbn=978-3-540-76952-1|page=326}}.</ref>

In 1960, Gold suggested a "garbage theory" for the origin of life, thus constituting a kind of "accidental [[panspermia]]". The theory proposes that life on Earth might have spread from a pile of [[waste]] products accidentally dumped on Earth long ago by [[extraterrestrials]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gold |first=Thomas |title=Cosmic Garbage |journal=Air Force and Space Digest |volume=43 |issue=5 |date=May 1960 |pages=65 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_air-force-magazine_1960-05_43_5/page/65/mode/2up}}</ref>

In 1968, a Cambridge [[radio astronomy]] [[postgraduate education|postgraduate student]] [[Jocelyn Bell Burnell]] and her doctoral adviser [[Antony Hewish]] discovered a [[Pulse (signal processing)|pulsing]] radio source with a [[frequency|period]] of 1.337 seconds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hewish |first1=A. |last2=Bell |first2=S. J. |last3=Pilkington |first3=J. D. H. |last4=Scott |first4=P. F. |last5=Collins |first5=R. A. |title=Observation of a Rapidly Pulsating Radio Source |journal=Nature |date=February 1968 |volume=217 |issue=5130 |pages=709–713 |doi=10.1038/217709a0 |bibcode=1968Natur.217..709H |s2cid=4277613 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/217709a0 |language=en |issn=1476-4687}}</ref> The source – which was termed "[[pulsar]]" – emitted beams of [[electromagnetic radiation]] at a very short and consistent interval. Gold proposed that these objects were rapidly rotating [[neutron star]]s.<ref name="Gold1968">{{Cite journal| last1 = Gold | first1 = T.| title = Rotating Neutron Stars as the Origin of the Pulsating Radio Sources| journal = Nature| volume = 218| pages = 731–732| year = 1968| doi = 10.1038/218731a0| bibcode=1968Natur.218..731G | issue=5143| s2cid = 4217682}}</ref> Gold argued that due to their strong [[magnetism|magnetic]] fields and high rotational speed, pulsars would emit radiation similar to a rotating beacon. Gold's conclusion was initially not well received by the scientific community; in fact, he was refused permission to present his theory at the first international conference on pulsars. However, Gold's theory became widely accepted following the discovery of a pulsar in the [[Crab Nebula]] using the Arecibo radio telescope, opening the door for future advancements in [[solid-state physics]] and astronomy.<ref>{{Harvnb|Burbidge|Burbidge|2006|pp=9–10}}.</ref> Anthony Tucker of ''[[The Guardian]]'' remarked that Gold's discovery paved the way for [[Stephen Hawking]]'s groundbreaking research into [[black hole]]s.<ref name="Tucker"/>