Don't give in to impostor syndrome, astrophysics pioneer tells grads

Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, discover of pulsars, urges class of 2016 to do their best to fight the self-doubt that can rob the world of their talent.

"Well, I'm a bit of a fighter. I knew they'd made a mistake admitting me. I knew they were going to throw me out sooner or later. But I decided in the interim I would work my very hardest, so that when they threw me out, I wouldn't have a guilty conscience. I'd know I'd done my best. And so I was being very diligent, very thorough, very conscientious, following up every anomaly that our new radio telescope turned up. And that's what led to the discovery of pulsars." -Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell


Watch the ceremony

(Honorary degree conferral begins at 26:00)