the history of astronomy
We tend to think about the history of astronomy as the history of men, as great astronomers such as Aristarchus, Copernicus, Ptolemy, and other great men had changed the way we looked at the sky. However, our knowledge of astronomy has also been influenced by many astronomers who are not well known to society, especially women, due to gender inequality and discrimination. So, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce Vera Rubin– the woman who pioneered on galaxy rotation rates and dark matter.
Vera Florence Cooper Rubin (Vera Rubin) was born in Pennsylvania on 23 July 1928. She has an older sister who eventually became a judge in the U.S. Department of Defence. Both of her parents were Jewish immigrants working at the same company called Bell Telephone Company (a telecommunication company). Her father, Philip Cooper, was a mathematically talented electrical engineer, while her mother, Rose Applebaum Cooper, was a worker calculating telephone lines’ mileage. Rubin’s whole family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1938 and settled there.
During her childhood, she was inspired by her father’s logical way of looking at things, and she started to develop an interest in night stars. As a little girl, there was nothing more interested in her life than watching the stars all night; she would rather gaze upon the night stars than go to bed. Fortunately, her parents were very supportive to her and encouraged her to pursue her interest in astronomy, except that they didn’t like her idea of staying up all night. However, the warm encouragement she felt with her family contrasted with the sexism reception she received from the outside world.
Rubin attended Coolidge Senior High School and graduated in 1944. She pursued her bachelor’s degree in astronomy at Vassar College, an all-women school. In 1948, she was the only astronomy student in her graduating class, however her eagerness to learn always overshadowed the loneliness she felt as a woman in astronomy. She attempted to apply to Princeton University for graduate school but was rejected because the astronomy program did not accept female students. So, she applied at Cornell University and graduated with her master’s degree in 1951.
Moreover, she pursued her PhD at Georgetown University, because it was the only university in Washington that offered a graduate degree in astronomy. After Rubin graduated in 1954, she taught lessons at Montgomery County Junior College and worked at Georgetown University as an assistant professor. In 1965, she joined Carnegie Institution of Washington as an astronomer, and she was the first woman ever allowed to legally use the instruments at the Palomar Observatory. During her early research, she faced discrimination and discouraging sexism; her early research was unaccepted mainly by her colleagues. In contrast, she wanted to avoid more competitive and contentious research areas, so she began focusing her research on the dynamics of galaxies, and that is where Rubin’s legacy begins.
Since then, Vera Rubin had made a significant contribution to the knowledge of astronomy. She was the pioneer focusing on the galaxy rotation curve. She oversimplifies the galaxy rotation problem (the mismatch between the visible light and the observed motion based on the predicted angular motion of galaxies), in which her conclusions were a significant breakthrough in astronomy. Furthermore, she teamed up her colleague, Kent Ford, and discovered the most compelling evidence to dark matter at that time. Their discovery revolutionized astronomy, and the possible existence of dark matter became scientifically accepted.
Moreover, they discovered a phenomenon which is named after them, the Rubin-Ford effect (galaxies should be flying apart because they are spinning so fast, but they didn’t fly apart because gravity keeps them together. However, there is not enough visible matter in galaxies that can generate that much gravity; this led to the existence of invisible dark matter). Besides, Rubin had spent her life advocating for women in astronomy and was well-known for being a role model for woman and mentorship of aspiring female astronomers.
Due to Rubin’s incredible discovery, she had received numerous awards, for example, Bruce Medal, National Medal of Science, Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and many more. Also, there were three things named in her honour, Vera C. Rubin Observatory, an area on Mars is named Vera Rubin Ridge, and an asteroid was named Asteroid 5726 Rubin.
However, she was never considered for the Nobel price in physics, an honour that would match her study’s significance. She never got the call from the Nobel committee, and on Christmas night,2016, she passed away from natural causes. She had urged woman, “Each one of you can change the world, for you are made of star stuff, and you are connected to the universe.” so did she smashed the boundaries presented to her by her gender to a pioneer of astronomy.