Here is a collection of some important papers in astrophysics and planetary science from the modern era. These are not good introductions to the state of the art — for that, refer to recent review papers. Instead, these mark important steps forward in the development of the field.
As always, when working through one of these papers, remember to ask yourself why it was not published five or ten years earlier. What other circumstances or developments enabled the work to be done at that point in time?
This collection is a work in progress. Your suggestions and nominations are always welcome!
Topics
Neutron Stars, Pulsars, and more:
- Hewish, Bell, et al. (1968), Observation of a Rapidly Pulsating Radio Source, 1968Natur.217..709H.
- Hulse & Taylor (1975), Discovery of a Pulsar in a Binary System, 1975ApJ...195L..51H.
- Backer, Kulkarni, et al. (1982), A Millisecond Pulsar, 1982Natur.300..615B.
