The highest precision pulsar timing

Pulsars are highly magnetised neutron stars that spin hundreds of times per second; the clock-like ticks of their radio signal provide a unique laboratory for fundamental physics. This thesis presents a pioneering study of the underlying limit to pulsar timing experiments due to the noise that is intrinsic to the pulsar and the first successful demonstration of a statistical method for overcoming this limit. This result directly impacts on future pulsar timing experiments with next-generation observatories such as the Square Kilometre Array. The thesis concludes with the largest and most comprehensive study of single pulse emission from a millisecond pulsar.