Vera Rubin Lives on in Lives of the Women She Helped in Astronomy

Vera Rubin is celebrated as the women who changed our understanding of galaxies and opened doors for female astronomers. She is often referred to as the mother of dark matter because of her work that led to the discovery of the presence of dark matter, which is now a hugely important part of our understanding of the universe. Rubin began her astronomy career by building a telescope with her father out of cardboard at the age of fourteen.

Rubin’s discoveries meant that our understanding of dark matter changed significantly from its theoretical origins, leading to further research and discoveries. She was particularly interested in taking spectra which breaks up the component light into its component colours, giving a lot of information on how the object is moving and what it’s composed of. This led to the realization that the outer reaches of galaxies seemed to be moving too quickly, which led to the hypothesis that there is some sort of dark matter that has gravity but doesn’t interact with light, potentially explaining these peculiar rotation curves.

Throughout her life, Rubin fought for opportunities for women in science and astronomy and encouraged curiosity in everyone. It was difficult for Rubin to gain entrance to astronomy schools, as Princeton banned women from its astronomy program until 27 years after Rubin’s application. Instead, Rubin enrolled in Cornell University, where she made one of the first observations of Hubble’s law, showing how galaxies move in relation to each other.

Rubin won the National Medal of Science and the inauguration of the Vera C. Observatory named after her. She never won a Nobel Prize, but Rubin’s legacy lives on as an inspiration to people in the field of astronomy, and sits as a reminder of the importance of encouraging curiosity in everyone, and the opportunities for women in astronomy. Through her work on dark matter, she has changed our understanding of the universe as we know it, and the impact of her enduring curiosity and tireless work carries on today.



Source link