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{{Infobox scientist
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Revision as of 16:18, 20 February 2013

Silla
Photograph
Vera Rubin measuring spectra, c. 1970
Born (1928-07-23) July 23, 1928 (age 96)
Alma materGeorgetown University
Known forGalaxy rotation problem
AwardsBruce Medal, Dickson Prize in Science, Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, National Medal of Science
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsGeorgetown University, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Thesis (1954)
Notable studentsSandra Faber

Vera Cooper Rubin (born 1928) is an American astronomer. She pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates and uncovered the discrepancy between the predicted angular motion of galaxies and the observed motion, by studying galaxy rotation curves. This phenomenon became known as the galaxy rotation problem; attempts to explain it led to the theory of dark matter.

Vera Rubin can be seen on the BBC documentary Most of Our Universe is Missing.[1]

Scientific work

Currently, the theory of dark matter is the most popular candidate for explaining the galaxy rotation problem. The alternative theory of MOND (Modified Newtonian Dynamics) has little support in the community. Rubin, however, supports the MOND approach, stating "If I could have my pick, I would like to learn that Newton's laws must be modified in order to correctly describe gravitational interactions at large distances. That's more appealing than a universe filled with a new kind of sub-nuclear particle."[2]

After she had earned an A.B. from Vassar College (1948), she tried to enroll at Princeton but never received their graduate catalog as women there were not allowed in the graduate astronomy program until 1975.[3] She applied to Cornell University, where she studied physics under Philip Morrison, Richard Feynman, and Hans Bethe. There she earned an M.A. in 1951. Then in 1954 at Georgetown University she earned a Ph.D.

Vera Rubin also has honorary Doctors of Science degrees from numerous universities, including Harvard and Yale. Rubin is currently a research astronomer at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. She is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. So far she has co-authored 114 peer reviewed research papers.

She also served on the board of trustees for Science Service, now known as Society for Science & the Public, from 2002-2008.

Personal

All four of her children have earned Ph.D.s in the natural sciences or mathematics: David (1950), Ph.D. geology, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey; Judith Young (1952), Ph.D. cosmic-ray physics, an astronomer at the University of Massachusetts; Karl (1956), Ph.D. mathematics, a mathematician at the University of California at Irvine; and Allan (1960), Ph.D. geology, a geologist at Princeton University.

Religious views

Rubin is an observant Jew, and sees no conflict between science and religion. In an interview, she stated: "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."[4]

Publications

Articles

  • Rubin, Vera C. (1970). "Rotation of the Andromeda Nebula from a Spectroscopic Survey of Emission Regions". The Astrophysical Journal. 159: 379. doi:10.1086/150317. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Rubin, V. C. (1976). "Motion of the Galaxy and the local group determined from the velocity anisotropy of distant SC I galaxies. I - The data". The Astronomical Journal. 81: 687. doi:10.1086/111942. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Rubin, V. C. (1980). "Rotational properties of 21 SC galaxies with a large range of luminosities and radii, from NGC 4605 /R = 4kpc/ to UGC 2885 /R = 122 kpc/". The Astrophysical Journal. 238: 471. doi:10.1086/158003. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Rubin, V. C. (1985). "Rotation velocities of 16 SA galaxies and a comparison of Sa, Sb, and SC rotation properties". The Astrophysical Journal. 289: 81. doi:10.1086/162866. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Rubin, Vera C. (1992). "Cospatial counterrotating stellar disks in the Virgo E7/S0 galaxy NGC 4550". The Astrophysical Journal. 394: L9. doi:10.1086/186460. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Rubin, Vera C. (1995). "A Century of Galaxy Spectroscopy". The Astrophysical Journal. 451: 419. doi:10.1086/176230.

Books

  • Rubin, Vera (1997). Bright galaxies, dark matters. Woodbury, NY: AIP Press. ISBN 1-56396-231-4.

Honors

Awards

She was only the second female recipient of this medal, the first being Caroline Herschel in 1828.

Named after her

  • In the 1st episode of the 22nd Season of The Simpsons, Milhouse lists "Vers Rubin" (sic) as his pick for the 2010 Physics Nobel prize.

Notes

  1. ^ "Most of Our Universe is Missing". BBC Science & Nature: TV & Radio Follow-Up. BBC. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
  2. ^ Brooks, Michael (19 March 2005). "13 things that do not make sense". New Scientist. Reed Business Information, Ltd. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
  3. ^ "Vera Rubin and Dark Matter". American Museum of Natural History. 2000. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  4. ^ Mayer, Gabriel (December 1–7, 1996). "Pontifical Science Academy Banks on Stellar Cast". National Catholic Register. Eternal Word Television Network. Retrieved 2010-10-19.

Further reading

  • Irion, R. (2002). "VERA RUBIN PROFILE: The Bright Face Behind the Dark Sides of Galaxies". Science. 295 (5557): 960–961. doi:10.1126/science.295.5557.960.
  • Lightman, Alan (1990). Origins : the lives and worlds of modern cosmologists. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674644700. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Overbye, Dennis (1991). Lonely hearts of the cosmos : the scientific quest for the secret of the universe (1st ed.). New York, NY: HarperCollins. ISBN 9780060159641.
  • Peebles, P.J.E. (1993). Principles of physical cosmology. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 9780691019338.
  • Rubin, Robert (2006). "Vera Cooper Rubin (1928–)". In Byers, Nina; Williams, Gary (eds.). Out of the shadows : contributions of twentieth-century women to physics (Reprinted ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr. pp. 343–354. ISBN 978-0521821971.
  • Rubin, Vera (1998). "Dark matter in the Universe" (PDF). Scientific American Presents (special quarterly issue: Magnificent Cosmos). 9 (1): 106&ngash, 110.
  • Smith, Julian A. (1995). "Rubin, Vera". In McMurray, Emily J.; Kosek, Jane Kelly; Valade III, Roger M. (eds.). Notable twentieth-century scientists. Detroit, MI: Gale Research. ISBN 9780810391819.

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