Vera Rubin
| Vera Rubin | |
|---|---|
Vera Rubin in 2009
|
|
| Born | Vera Cooper July 23, 1928 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | December 25, 2016 (aged 88) Princeton, New Jersey |
| Residence | Princeton, New Jersey |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | Georgetown University, Carnegie Institution of Washington |
| Alma mater | Vassar College, Cornell University, Georgetown University |
| Thesis | Fluctuations in the Space Distribution of the Galaxies (1954) |
| Doctoral advisor | George Gamow |
| Other academic advisors | Richard Feynman, Hans Bethe, Philip Morrison |
| Notable students | Sandra Faber |
| Known for | Galaxy rotation problem, dark matter, Rubin–Ford effect |
| Notable awards | Bruce Medal, Dickson Prize in Science, Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, National Medal of Science |
Vera Cooper Rubin (July 23, 1928 – December 25, 2016) was an American astronomer who pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates. She uncovered the discrepancy between the predicted angular motion of galaxies and the observed motion, by studying galactic rotation curves. This phenomenon became known as the galaxy rotation problem. Although initially met with skepticism, Rubin's results were confirmed over subsequent decades.
As described in her New York Times obituary, she "transformed modern physics and astronomy with her observations showing that galaxies and stars are immersed in the gravitational grip of vast clouds of dark matter. Her work helped usher in a Copernican-scale change in cosmic consciousness, namely the realization that what astronomers always saw and thought was the universe "is just the visible tip of a lumbering iceberg of mystery."
Vera Rubin was born Vera Florence Cooper, on July 23, 1928, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the younger of two sisters. Her parents were Jewish immigrants Philip Cooper, a Lithuanian-American electrical engineer who worked at Bell Telephone and Rose Applebaum Cooper, of Bessarabian origin, who worked at Bell until their marriage. Her father was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, as Pesach Kobchefski.
The family moved to Washington, DC when Vera was 10, where she developed an interest in astronomy, later saying that she had "become entranced by astronomy from watching the stars wheel past her bedroom window."
Rubin's older sister, Ruth Cooper Burg, eventually became an administrative law judge in the United States Department of Defense.
Rubin pursued undergraduate education at Vassar College "because Maria Mitchell—the first nationally known woman astronomer—had worked there"; she earned her BA degree in 1948, in astronomy, the sole graduate in the subject in that class. She attempted to enroll in a graduate program at Princeton, but never received their graduate catalogue, as women were not allowed in the graduate astronomy program there until 1975.
...
Wikipedia