Vera Rubin Quotes

Vera Florence Cooper Rubin 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, and was evidence of the existence of dark matter. Although initially met with skepticism, Rubin's results were confirmed over subsequent decades. Her legacy was described by The New York Times as "ushering in a Copernican-scale change" in cosmological theory.Beginning her academic career as the sole undergraduate in astronomy at Vassar College, Rubin went on to graduate studies at Cornell University and Georgetown University, where she observed deviations from Hubble flow in galaxies and provided evidence for the existence of galactic superclusters.Rubin spent her life advocating for women in science and was known for her mentorship of aspiring female astronomers. Her data provided some of the first evidence for dark matter, which had been theorized by Fritz Zwicky in the 1930s. She was honored throughout her career for her achievements, and received the Bruce Medal, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and the National Medal of Science, among others. She is the first woman to have a large observatory named after her: the National Science Foundation Vera C. Rubin Observatory . Wikipedia  

✵ 23. July 1928 – 25. December 2016
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Vera Rubin: 9   quotes 11   likes

Famous Vera Rubin Quotes

“Science is competitive, aggressive, demanding. It is also imaginative, inspiring, uplifting.”

Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters (1997), p. 219

“It is well known that I am available twenty-four hours a day to women astronomers.”

As quoted in Jewish Women's Archive https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/rubin-vera-cooper

“Science progresses best when observations force us to alter our preconceptions.”

As quoted in In Quest of the Universe (2007) https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0763743879, by Theo Koupelis and Karl F. Kuhn, p. 583

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