1 Preamble 

In the 34 years that have elapsed since the discovery [97] of pulsars, rapidly rotating highly magnetised neutron stars, the study of these fascinating objects has resulted in many applications in physics and astronomy. Striking examples include the confirmation of the existence of gravitational radiation [241] as predicted by general relativity [239, 240] and the first detection of an extra-solar planetary system [273, 186].

  

Figure 1: The numbers and locations of the various types of radio pulsars known as of December 2000. The large and small Magellanic clouds are denoted by LMC and SMC.

The diverse zoo of radio pulsars currently known is summarized graphically by the Venn diagram in Fig.  1 . Many new binary systems containing neutron stars are being discovered as a result of the latest generation of pulsar surveys. This review is concerned primarily with the results and spin-offs from these surveys which are of particular interest to the relativity community.

• 1.1 What's new in this review?

Binary and Millisecond Pulsars at the New Millennium Duncan R. Lorimer http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2001-5 © Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. ISSN 1433-8351 Problems/Comments to livrev@aei-potsdam.mpg.de