Six years of pulsars.

The present work gives a brief overview of the development of theory concerning pulsars since their discovery in 1967. Pulsars, of which to date about 100 have been discovered, are considered to be rapidly rotating neutron stars, which transfer their rotational energy through a very strong magnetic field (approximately one trillion Gauss) to the surrounding plasma, which radiates this energy. In 1970, the satellite Uhuru opened up a new era in the study of rapid pulsating cosmic objects: the first X-ray pulsar, Cen X-3 = 2U 1119 - 60, was discovered, which, it was found, is a member of a hidden binary with a period of 2.087 days. It seems that a large portion of compact X-ray sources are binary stars in which one member is a degenerate star: white dwarf, neutron star, or even a black hole. A chief candidate for a black hole is the Cyg X-1 source, for the mass of the secondary member substantially exceeds the maximum possible mass for a neutron star.