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About one star in four will end its life as a magnetic white dwarf. Although magnetism is a very common feature in degenerate stars, we still do not know much about its origin and evolution. Our volume-limited spectropolarimetric survey of white dwarfs reveals statistical characteristics that may help to understand it., Published in The Messenger vol. 186, pp. 14-18, March 2022.

I was one of the six people most closely involved in the discovery of the first magnetic white dwarf in 1970, now 50 years ago. Thinking back on this event, I have realised that the discovery occurred when and how it did because of a series of lucky coincidences along a strange and winding path. In this paper I recount the events as I recall them, and reflect on how those unlikely coincidences helped us to succeed.