The astronomer who was successful against sexism in the scientific world: Who is Vera Rubin?

Her real name is Vera Cooper, she was born on July 23, 1928, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father is Pesach Kobchefski, who was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. Later, she Englishized her name to "Philip Cooper" and became an electrical engineer. Her mother is Rose Applebaum, and Vera has an older sister, Ruth Cooper Burg, who is a lawyer.

The Cooper family moved to Washington, D.C. in 1938, where Vera developed an interest in astronomy while watching the stars from her window. She pursued her curiosity by making a rough cardboard telescope with her father, observing and tracking meteorites. Enrolling in Coolidge Senior High School here, Vera graduated from high school in 1944.

Considering an undergraduate degree at Vassar College, then an all-female school, Vera was inspired in 1865 by Maria Mitchell, a professor at the same college. After graduating, Vera earned her bachelor's degree in astronomy in 1948, becoming the only person to graduate in astronomy that year. Trying to enroll in a graduate program at Princeton University, Vera was blocked because of her gender.

Vera's husband, who married Robert Joshua Rubin in 1948, was a graduate student at Cornell University. Later, Vera enrolled at Cornell University and completed her master's level in 1951. Meanwhile, Vera, studying the motions of 109 galaxies, made one of the first observations of deviations from the Hubble flow.

Working on galactic dynamics with astronomer Martha Carpenter, Vera has worked under many important people, notably Philip Morrison, Hans Bethe and Richard Feynman. Vera's conclusion was that 'the galaxies orbit around a certain pole'. Even if this result was disproved, the idea that galaxies were moving was correct and further investigation was encouraged. Her research also provided the first evidence of the supergalactic plane. Vera's information and the data she discovered created a lot of controversy.

Desiring to pursue a doctorage degree, Vera studied at Georgetown University, the only university in Washington, D.C. to offer a master's degree in astronomy. Vera, who was 23 years old and pregnant when she started her doctorate, had another small child at home. In her dissertation, which she completed in 1954, she concluded that galaxies are clustered together rather than randomly scattered throughout the universe. This conclusion remained a controversial idea that had not been followed for two decades. Despite these, she faced many discouraging and sad events due to gender discrimination.

Over the next eleven years, Vera held a variety of academic positions. First, she worked as a Mathematics and Physics Instructor for a year at Montgomery College. Later, she was a research assistant astronomer at Georgetown University from 1955 to 1965, she. At the same university, she worked as a lecturer from 1959 to 1962 and finally as an assistant professor of astronomy from 1962 to 1965. After her stint there, she joined the Carnegie Institute of Washington as a staff member in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism she.

Around this time, she began a year-long collaboration with Rubin, Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge. At the same time, she obtained her first observations of the rotation of galaxies using the telescope of the "McDonald Observatory". During her studies at the Carnegie Institution, Vera applied to the Palomar Observatory to observe in 1965. But here, there were no facilities for women. The Observatory created the women's restroom, making up for the lack of available facilities for Vera. Thus, she made her name as the first female astronomer to observe here.

Vera began studying galaxy clusters with Kent Ford, whom she met at the Carnegie Institution, and obtained many observations using Ford's image tube spectrograph. The Rubin-Ford effect was discovered as an obvious anisotropy in the expansion of the Universe on the scale of 100 million light years. Although rejected by leading astronomers, it was eventually shown to be valid. The effect is now known as large-scale flow. The duo also studied quasars, a popular research topic.

Wanting to avoid the controversial areas of astronomy, Vera began to study the rotation and outer reaches of galaxies. Also, starting with Andromeda, Vera studied the rotation curves of spiral galaxies by looking at their outermost matter, observed flat rotation curves and put forward many theories. Most importantly, it told the outermost components of the galaxy to move as fast as those closer to the centre. Her knowledge was an early indication that spiral galaxies are surrounded by halos of dark matter. Vera's calculations were validated in the following years and were the first complementary results to support the dark matter theory first proposed by astronomer Fritz Zwicky in the 1930s. The research results were also confirmed by radio astronomers, the discovery of the cosmic microwave background, and gravitational lensing images.

Another area of interest for Vera was the reverse spin phenomenon in galaxies. The discovery that some gases and stars were moving in the opposite direction of the rotation of the rest of the galaxy challenged other prevailing theory. Thus, she obtained the first evidence for galaxy mergers and the initial formation process of galaxies.

Vera's perspective on the history of the study of galactic motions was shared in a 2000 review, "Century Rotating Galaxies," for the Astronomical Society Publications of the Pacific. This review was an adaptation of his 1996 lecture. Vera was awarded the Royal Astronomical Society's Gold Medal, 168 years after the medal was received in 1828, becoming the second woman to be so honored. She was named one of the "50 most important women" in science by Discover magazine in 2002. Until her death, Vera continued her research and mentoring work.

By being elected to the National Academy of Sciences, Vera became the second female astronomer after her colleague Margaret Burbidge, but for all her work and contribution, she never won a Nobel Prize. On December 25, 2016, Vera passed away due to complications associated with dementia.

Vera was described as a "national treasure" by the head of the Carnegie Institution, where she did most of her work and research. The institute established a postdoctoral research fund in Vera's honor, and the American Astronomical Society's Division of Dynamic Astronomy awarded the "Vera Rubin Early Career Award" in Vera's honor.

Vera appeared in the 13th and final episode of the science documentary TV series "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey". Also in honor of Vera, a region on Mars was named "Vera Rubin Ridge" and named "Asteroid 5726 Rubin". On November 6, 2020, a satellite named after Vera was launched into space.

On December 20, 2019, the astronomical observatory called the Large Synoptic Research Telescope was renamed the National Science Foundation "Vera C.

Personal life

Vera was married to mathematician Robert Joshua Rubin from 1948 until her death in 2008. The couple has four children, David, Judith Young, Karl and Allan. Their children all earned doctorates in natural sciences or mathematics, and said that their mother inspired them.

Trying to gain a reputation as a woman in a field dominated by male astronomers, Vera motivated by her own struggle, she led girls interested in exploring the universe to pursue their dreams. Faced with disheartening comments about her work throughout her life, Vera never lost hope as she was supported by her family and colleagues. Besides astronomy, she also had an effort for greater recognition of women in the sciences and scientific literacy.