'It'll upset a few fellows': Royal Society adds Jocelyn Bell Burnell portrait

Painting of astrophysicist joins male-dominated collection at organisation's London HQ

A British astrophysicist who made one of the most significant scientific discoveries of the 20th century but was overlooked by the Nobel prize committee has joined the male-dominated portrait collection of the Royal Society.

Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell was a 24-year-old graduate student when in 1967 she discovered a new type of star later called a pulsar. It was a sensational find, recognised with the Nobel prize for physics in 1974 that went not to her, but to her male PhD supervisor.