Taylor, Joseph H.

Joseph H. Taylor is an American astrophysicist renowned for his groundbreaking work in the field of pulsars—rapidly rotating neutron stars that emit precise radio signals. His research helped confirm the existence of gravitational waves predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, by studying the orbital decay of pulsar systems. Taylor’s discoveries provided strong indirect evidence for gravitational waves long before they were directly detected. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1993 alongside Russell Hulse for their contributions, which have significantly advanced our understanding of fundamental physics and the universe.