Vera Rubin

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Vera Florence Cooper Rubin (Template:IPAc-en; July 23, 1928 – December 25, 2016) was an American astronomer who pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates.<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="VOX-20210817">Template:Cite news</ref> She uncovered the discrepancy between the predicted and observed angular motion of galaxies by studying galactic rotation curves, the first evidence for galaxy rotation problem, one key piece of evidence for dark matter. Measurements by other astronomers using 21 centimeter hydrogen line radio telescopes clinched the case.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Honored during her lifetime for her work, she received the Bruce Medal, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and the National Medal of Science, among others.<ref name="The Observatory-1997" /> The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile is named in her honor.<ref name="Falk-2025">Template:Cite web </ref><ref name="DomonoskeNPR161226">Template:Cite journal</ref> Her legacy is described by The New York Times as "ushering in a Copernican-scale change" in cosmological theory.<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /> Prominent theoretical physicist Lisa Randall and others have argued that Rubin was neglected for the Nobel Prize.<ref name="Randall-2017">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="scientificinquirer-2023">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Feltman-2016">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Gamillo-2023">Template:Cite web</ref>

Rubin spent her life advocating for women in science, and mentored aspiring female astronomers.<ref name="The Observatory-1997">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Early life and education

Vera Cooper was born on July 23, 1928, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the younger of two sisters born to a Jewish family with roots in Eastern Europe. As recalled by Vera, her father Pesach Kobchefski was born in "Vilna, Latvia" (currently known as Vilnius, Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire), and at the age of seven immigrated with his mother and three siblings to Gloversville, New York, reuniting with his father who had immigrated a year or two earlier. Pesach soon anglicized his name to Pete Cooper, and as an adult studied electrical engineering and worked at Bell Telephone. He married Rose Applebaum, a second generation American born to a mother who had immigrated from Bessarabia (in present-day Moldova and Ukraine) to Philadelphia. They met at Bell, where Rose worked until they married.<ref name="Rubin-2001">Template:Cite journal</ref>

In 1938 the family moved to Washington, D.C.,<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /> where ten-year-old Vera developed an interest in astronomy while watching the stars from her window.<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /><ref name="Bartusiak">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="jwa">Template:Cite book</ref> "Even then I was more interested in the question than in the answer," she remembered. "I decided at an early age that we inhabit a very curious world."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She built a crude telescope out of cardboard with her father, and began to observe and track meteors.<ref name="Irion">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Schudel-2016">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Scoles161004" /> She attended public school at the Coolidge Senior High School, graduating in 1944.<ref name="Schudel-2016" />

Ignoring advice she had received from a high school science teacher to avoid a scientific career and become an artist,<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /><ref name="Irion" /> the young aspiring astronomer chose instead to pursue her undergraduate education at Vassar College. Vassar, then an all-women's school, was famous for its association with the pioneering 19th century astronomer Maria Mitchell, discoverer of Comet 1847 VI (modern designation C/1847 T1) and a professor at Vassar from the time of the founding of its observatory in 1865.<ref name=OverbyeNYT161227/>

At Vassar College, Rubin was a member of the honors society Phi Beta Kappa.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She earned her bachelor's degree in astronomy in 1948.<ref name="Irion" /> Despite Vassar's historic reputation for groundbreaking science in the field, Rubin was the only graduate in astronomy that year.<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /><ref name="DomonoskeNPR161226" />

Graduate studies

Rubin attempted to enroll in the astronomy program at Princeton, but was barred due to her gender (Princeton would retain the policy of gender discrimination against women in its astronomy department until 1975<ref name="DomonoskeNPR161226" />).<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /><ref name="The Observatory-1997" /> She was accepted to Harvard's program, but declined the offer on the basis that she was getting married, and her future husband, a graduate student in physics, was based at Cornell University.<ref name="Popova-2016">Template:Cite web</ref>

Cornell was not known during this period for the excellence of its astronomy department, composed as it was of only four members. It did, however, boast an excellent physics faculty, and much of the coursework for Rubin's degree was taught within this department. Noted physicist Philip Morrison and future Nobelists Hans Bethe and Richard Feynman worked with Rubin during this period.<ref name="Scoles161004" /><ref name="Mitton-2021">Template:Cite book</ref>

At Cornell, she worked with astronomer Martha Carpenter on galactic dynamics and studied the motions of galaxies. From this work, Rubin made one of the first observations of deviations from Hubble flow.<ref name="The Observatory-1997" /><ref name="Irion" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Though her conclusions – that there was an orbital motion of galaxies around a particular pole – were later disproven, the idea that galaxies were moving held true and sparked further research.<ref name="Irion" /> Additionally, Rubin's research provided early evidence of the supergalactic plane.

This information and the data she compiled was controversial for their day. Against her advisors' hesitations, she gained permission to present at the annual meeting of American Astronomical Society. Not only was her material in a form that left it open to speculation that it was premature and incompletely supported, she had given birth to her first child three weeks previously and was not a member of the society.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> These circumstances did not go unnoticed. Her presentation to the AAS in December 1950 received front page headlines ("Young Mother Has Own Theory of Universe," read the lede, disseminated from an article in the Washington Post<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>). The talk received – to Rubin's personal recollection – universally negative feedback and the paper was not published.<ref name="Scoles161004" />

She completed her work at Cornell with the award of her 1951 master's degree.<ref name="Schudel-2016" />

Rubin studied next at Georgetown University, where she earned her Ph.D. in 1954 (under George Gamow, who was at nearby George Washington University),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> although much of her classwork was completed with Georgetownian Francis Heyden.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Her dissertation, completed in 1954, concluded that galaxies clumped together, rather than being randomly distributed through the universe, a controversial idea not pursued by others for two decades.<ref name="The Observatory-1997" /><ref name="Irion" /><ref name="CWP">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Popova-2016" />

Career

Rubin in 1974, measuring spectra at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C.

For the next decade, Rubin held various short-term academic positions in the greater DC area. She served for a year as an instructor of Mathematics and Physics at Montgomery College, Maryland. Then from 1955 to 1965 she worked at Georgetown University as a research associate astronomer, lecturer (1959–1962), and finally, assistant professor of astronomy (1962–1965).<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /><ref name="CWP"/>

In the latter position, from 1963, Rubin began a year-long collaboration with Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge, during which she made her first observations of the rotation of galaxies while using the McDonald Observatory's 82-inch telescope.<ref name="Irion" />

She joined the Carnegie Institution of Washington (later called Carnegie Institution of Science) in 1965 as a staff member in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism.<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /><ref name="CWP" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There she met her long-time collaborator, instrument-maker Kent Ford.<ref name="Irion" />

During her work at the Carnegie Institution, Rubin applied to become the first female astronomer permitted to observe at the Palomar Observatory in 1965.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /><ref name="The Observatory-1997" /><ref name="GruberFoundation-2016">Template:Cite web</ref>

An initiating faculty member of the Vatican Observatory Summer School (1986), Rubin continued this relationship through subsequent decades, providing dedication remarks for the opening of the VATT, the Vatican's telescope on Mount Graham.<ref name="Consolmagno-2016" />

Rubin retired from the Carnegie Institute in 2014 as Senior Fellow of Astronomy in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism.<ref name="National Space Grant Foundation-2010">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Carnegie Science">Template:Cite web</ref>

Photo of Rubin adjusting part of a large telescope
Rubin in 1963 using Kitt Peak National Observatory's 36-inch telescope with Kent Ford's image tube spectrograph attached

Research

At the Carnegie Institution, Rubin began work related to her controversial thesis regarding galaxy clusters in tandem with Kent Ford,<ref name="CWP" /> making hundreds of observations using Ford's image-tube spectrograph.<ref name="Carnegie-2013">Template:Cite web</ref> This image intensifier allowed resolving the spectra of astronomical objects that were previously too dim for spectral analysis.<ref name="Irion" /><ref name="Carnegie-2013" /> A decade of observations coalesced in the shared discovery of the Rubin-Ford effect, with publication first appearing in 1976.

Rubin–Ford effect

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The Rubin–Ford effect, an apparent anisotropy in the expansion of the Universe on the scale of 100 million light years, was discovered through studies of spiral galaxies, particularly the Andromeda Galaxy, chosen for its brightness and proximity to Earth.<ref name="Scoles161004" /><ref name="OxfordRef">Template:Cite book See also the publishers online entry.</ref> The idea of peculiar motion on this scale in the universe was a highly controversial proposition. It was dismissed by leading astronomers but ultimately shown to be valid.<ref name="The Observatory-1997" /><ref name="Scoles161004">Template:Cite news</ref> The effect is now known as large scale streaming.<ref name="GruberFoundation-2016" />

Galactic motion

Rubin and Kent also briefly studied quasars, which had been discovered in the early 1960s and were a popular topic of research.<ref name="Irion" /><ref name="Scoles161004" /> Wishing to avoid controversial areas of astronomy, including quasars and galactic motion, Rubin began to study the rotation and outer reaches of galaxies, an interest sparked by her collaboration with the Burbidges.<ref name="Irion" />

Rotational curves

She investigated the rotation curves of spiral galaxies, again beginning with Andromeda, by looking at their outermost material. She observed flat rotation curves: the outermost components of the galaxy were moving as quickly as those close to the center.<ref name="Bahcall-2017a">Template:Cite journal</ref> She further uncovered the discrepancy between the predicted angular motion of galaxies based on the visible light and the observed motion.<ref name="Tucker1988">Template:Cite book</ref> Her research showed that spiral galaxies rotate quickly enough that they should fly apart, if the gravity of their constituent stars was all that was holding them together; because they stay intact, a large amount of unseen mass must be holding them together, a conundrum that became known as the galaxy rotation problem.<ref name="The Observatory-1997" /><ref name="Bahcall-2017a" />

Rubin's results came to be cited as evidence that spiral galaxies were surrounded by dark matter haloes.<ref name="RubinDarkMatter2006">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="The Observatory-1997" /><ref name="Irion" /> Rubin's calculations showed that galaxies must contain at least five to ten times more mass than can be observed directly based on the light emitted by ordinary matter.<ref name="Carnegie-2016">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Randall2015">Template:Cite book</ref> Rubin's results were confirmed over subsequent decades,<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /> and became the first persuasive results supporting the theory of dark matter, initially proposed by Fritz Zwicky in the 1930s.<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /><ref name="Scoles161004" /><ref name="Peebles1993">Template:Cite book</ref> This data was confirmed by radio astronomers, the discovery of the cosmic microwave background, and images of gravitational lensing.<ref name="Irion" /><ref name="Scoles161004" /> However, Rubin did not rule out<ref name=RubinHistoyr>Template:Cite book</ref> alternative models to dark matter also inspired by her measurements.<ref name="The Observatory-1997" /> She and her research were discussed in the 1991 PBS series, The Astronomers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Counter-rotation

Another area of interest for Rubin was the phenomenon of counter-rotation in galaxies. Her discovery that some gas and stars moved in the opposite direction to the rotation of the rest of the galaxy challenged the prevailing theory that all of the material in a galaxy moved in the same direction, and provided the first evidence for galaxy mergers and the process by which galaxies initially formed.<ref name="GruberFoundation-2016" />

Activism for women in astronomy

Famous astronomers: Vera Rubin (2nd from left), Wendy Freedman (3rd), Sandra Faber (4th), Nancy Roman (6th). 1988

During her work at the Carnegie Institution, Rubin applied to observe at the Palomar Observatory in 1965, despite the fact that the building did not have facilities for women. Reluctantly granted access, she was informed "your time on the observatory is limited, because we don't have a women's bathroom,"<ref name="Isaacs" /> a common period ruse to avoid allowing women access to these stations (Margaret Burbridge faced similar discrimination at the Carnegie a decade previous, when she gained access to the telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory via the pretense that husband Geoffrey was the telescope operator). According to Carnegie president Eric Isaacs, Rubin "solved the problem pretty simply by cutting out a little paper skirt and taping it to the stick figure image of a man which was on the men's room door. And she turned around and said, 'now you have a ladies' room' and then she got to work."<ref name="Isaacs">Template:Cite web</ref>

Throughout her graduate studies, Rubin encountered discouraging sexism; in one incident she was not allowed to meet with her advisor in his office, because women were not allowed in that area of Georgetown, a Catholic university.<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /><ref name="Irion" /> Motivated by her own battles to gain credibility in a field dominated by male astronomers, Rubin encouraged girls interested in investigating the universe to pursue their dreams. She was described by Sandra Faber and Neta Bahcall as one of the astronomers who paved the way for other women in the field, as a "guiding light" for those who wished to have families and careers in astronomy. Rebecca Oppenheimer also recalled Rubin's mentorship as important to her early career.<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /><ref name="Carnegie-2016" /><ref name="Drake-2016">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Bahcall-2017a" /><ref name="Bahcall-2017b" />

When Rubin was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 1981, she became only the second woman astronomer in its ranks (after her colleague Margaret Burbidge).<ref name="Irion" /> She, alongside Burbidge, advocated for more women to be elected to the NAS, selected for review panels, and represented in academic searches. She said that despite her own election to the NAS, she continued to be dissatisfied with the low number of women who were elected each year, and she further said it was "the saddest part of [her] life".<ref name="Irion" /><ref name="Scoles161004" /><ref name="GruberFoundation-2016" />

Throughout her life, Rubin faced discouraging comments on her choice of study but persevered, as she was supported by family and colleagues.<ref name="Irion" /><ref name="DomonoskeNPR161226" /> In addition to encouraging women in astronomy, she was a force for greater recognition of women in the sciences and for scientific literacy.<ref name="DomonoskeNPR161226" /><ref name="Drake-2016" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Personal life

Vera Rubin

Rubin married in 1948, when her husband, Robert Joshua Rubin, was a graduate student at Cornell University, and she herself had recently graduated from Vassar.<ref name="VOX-20210817" /><ref name="Irion" /> She was 23 years old and pregnant with her second child when she began her doctoral studies.<ref name="OverbyeNYT161227" /><ref name="DomonoskeNPR161226" />

By 1963, Rubin, working and with four children, was described as the sole member of Vassar's class of 1948 as having "come near to filling the Utopian aim of being a full-time professional in her field without, for the most part, putting her children into someone else's hands."<ref name="Rifkin-1963">Template:Cite journal</ref> Rubin ascribed this characterization to the "unique part time full time" nature of her then position at Georgetown University.<ref name="Rifkin-1963" /> Because she had young children, she did much of her work from home.<ref name="Schudel-2016" />

All four of their children earned PhDs in the natural sciences or mathematics: David (born 1950), is a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey; Judith Young (1952–2014), was an astronomer at the University of Massachusetts; Karl (born 1956), is a mathematician at the University of California at Irvine; and Allan (born 1960), is a geologist at Princeton University.<ref name="jwa" /><ref name="Irion" /><ref name="Bahcall-2017b">Template:Cite journal</ref> Rubin's children recalled later in life that their mother made a life of science appear desirable and fun, which inspired them to become scientists themselves.<ref name="Irion" />

Rubin was Jewish, and she said she saw no conflict between science and religion. In an interview, she said: "In my own life, my science and my religion are separate. I'm Jewish, and so religion to me is a kind of moral code and a kind of history. I try to do my science in a moral way, and, I believe that, ideally, science should be looked upon as something that helps us understand our role in the universe."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Rubin's older sister, Ruth Cooper Burg, was an attorney who later worked as an administrative law judge in the United States Department of Defense.<ref name="Bartusiak" />

In the early 2000s, Vera Rubin was still actively engaged in scientific work, and in 2013 articles with her participation were still being published.<ref>Articles by Vera Rubin NASA ADS</ref> In 2008, Robert Joshua Rubin, Vera Rubin's husband, with whom she had been married for about 60 years, died.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Rubin died "of natural causes" at age 88 on the night of December 25, 2016.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She had dementia and was living in an assisted living facility.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rubin was memorialized by her colleagues at the Carnegie Institution, where she performed the bulk of her work and research, as a "national treasure."<ref name="DomonoskeNPR161226" /><ref name="Carnegie-2016" />

Legacy

Nobel Prize controversy

Rubin is "widely thought to have been snubbed for the Nobel Prize."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the decade following her death, there has been significant ongoing disagreement as to why Rubin's work was not recognized with a Nobel Prize. Some assume it was "because of her gender,"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while physicists such as Lisa Randall and Emily Levesque have argued that it was an oversight.<ref name="Scoles161004" /><ref name="Randall-2017">Template:Cite web</ref> Others have argued that it was a "glaring omission."<ref name="Gamillo-2023">Template:Cite web</ref> Popularly written articles like Forbes' "Who Really Discovered Dark Matter: Fritz Zwicky Or Vera Rubin?"<ref name="Siegel-2010">Template:Cite web</ref> both characterize Rubin's failure to be awarded a Nobel Prize as an egregious snub<ref name="Siegel-2010" /> and equivocate regarding the specific science on which this honor would have been conferred.

Discussion of the issue continues, as posthumous honors and recognition (see below) have proliferated, and Rubin's name is regularly mentioned in articles listing the 20th century women who missed out on Nobel Prizes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Feltman-2016">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Randall-2017" /><ref name="NYT-20200111" /><ref name="scientificinquirer-2023">Template:Cite web</ref>

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the Milky Way

Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Telescope Mount Assembly of the 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope at Vera C. Rubin Observatory, under construction atop Cerro Pachón in Chile

On December 20, 2019, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope was renamed the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in recognition of Rubin's contributions to the study of dark matter and her outspoken advocacy for the equal treatment and representation of women in science.<ref name="NYT-20200111">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="nsf">Template:Cite web</ref> The observatory is located on a mountain in Cerro Pachón, Chile and observations will focus on the study of dark matter and dark energy. As of April 2025, the telescope had begun operation and was producing images and volumes of new data.<ref>"This Powerful Telescope Quickly Found 2,100 New Asteroids," by Kenneth Chang, New York Times, June 23, 2025</ref>

Additional recognition

Media

Awards and honors

File:Design of U S quarter featuring Dr Vera C Rubin (rubin-2025-americanwomen-quarterscoin-verarubin).jpg
Rubin is honored on a 2025 edition of the American Women quarters series

Following her 1981 election as the second woman ever to the National Academy of Sciences,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rubin and her work received numerous accolades.Template:Synthesis inline

Rubin's perspective on the history of the work on galaxy movements was presented in a review, "One Hundred Years of Rotating Galaxies," for the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 2000. This was an adaptation of the lecture she gave in 1996 upon receiving the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the second woman to be so honored, 168 years after Caroline Herschel received the Medal in 1828.<ref name="The Observatory-1997" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In addition to this list, Rubin was granted honorary doctorates from Harvard University,<ref name="GruberFoundation-2016" /> Yale University,<ref name="GruberFoundation-2016" /> Smith College,<ref name="GruberFoundation-2016" /> Grinnell College,<ref name="GruberFoundation-2016" /> and Princeton University (2005).<ref name="Bahcall-2017b" />

Publications

Books

Articles

Rubin published over 150 scientific papers. The following are a selection of articles identified by the scientists and historians of the Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics project (CWP), as being representative of her most important writings.<ref name="The Observatory-1997" /><ref name=CWP/>

Quotations

"Don't let anyone keep you down for silly reasons such as who you are. And don't worry about prizes and fame. The real prize is finding something new out there."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

References

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