Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, England, 7 October 1937) is an astrophysicist. He discovered the optical component of the
Crab Pulsar
The Crab Pulsar (PSR B0531+21) is a relatively young neutron star. The star is the central star in the Crab Nebula, a remnant of the supernova SN 1054, which was widely observed on Earth in the year 1054.A Pulsar Discovery - Moments of Discovery:1968 /ref> with John Cocke. This was the first optical pulsar ever observed.
He was also one of the pioneers in the discovery of low surface brightness galaxies.
Disney was a professor at
Cardiff University
, latin_name =
, image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University
, motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord
, mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord
, established = 1 ...
until his retirement in 2005.
Disney is an outspoken critic of the theory of
cosmic inflation
In physical cosmology, cosmic inflation, cosmological inflation, or just inflation, is a theory of exponential expansion of space in the early universe. The inflationary epoch lasted from seconds after the conjectured Big Bang singularity ...
.
He was the co-author with Alan Wright of the humorous (and often mis-attributed) short story 'Impure Mathematics'.