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Vera Rubin
Vera Rubin · Photograph by Mark Godfrey, courtesy of AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Gift of Vera Rubin, Attribution, Wikimedia Commons
Person

Vera Rubin

1928 – 2016 · aged 88

American astronomer and physicist (1928-2016)

Born
23 Jul 1928 · Philadelphia
Died
25 Dec 2016 · Princeton
Part ofJudaism74 BCE – today

Life timeline

Their life from birth to death. On the timeline, world events of the time are shown faintly.

Showing 101 years
  1. 23 Jul 1928BornBorn in Philadelphia
  2. 1993AwardNational Medal of Science
  3. 1994AwardDickson Prize in Science
  4. 1994AwardHenry Norris Russell Lectureship
  5. 1996AwardGold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
  6. 1996AwardWeizmann Women & Science Award
  7. 2001AwardJohn Scott Award
  8. 2002AwardGruber Prize in Cosmology
  9. 2003AwardBruce Medal
  10. 2004AwardJames Craig Watson Medal
  11. 2008AwardClarivate Citation Laureates
  12. 2008AwardRichtmyer Memorial Lecture Award
  13. 2009AwardWomen in Space Science Award
  14. 25 Dec 2016DiedDied in Princeton

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Meanwhile in the world

Major world events during their lifetime (1928 – 2016).

  1. 1933 – 1945The Holocaust
  2. 19341934 FIFA World Cup
  3. 19361936 Summer Olympics
  4. 1937 – 1945Second Sino-Japanese War
  5. 19381938 FIFA World Cup
  6. 1938Munich Agreement
  7. 1939 – 1940Winter War
  8. 1939 – 1945World War II
  9. 1940 – 1945Auschwitz concentration camp
  10. 1941Attack on Pearl Harbor
  11. 1941 – 1945Eastern Front
  12. 1941Operation Barbarossa
  13. 1942 – 1943Battle of Stalingrad
  14. 1945Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  15. 1945 – 1946Nuremberg trials
  16. 19501950 FIFA World Cup
  17. 1950 – 1953Korean War
  18. 1953 – 1959Cuban Revolution
  19. 19541954 FIFA World Cup
  20. 1955 – 1975Vietnam War
  21. 1956Hungarian Revolution of 1956
  22. 1956Suez Crisis
  23. 19581958 FIFA World Cup
  24. 1959Antarctic Treaty System
  25. 19621962 FIFA World Cup
  26. 1962Cuban Missile Crisis
  27. 19661966 FIFA World Cup
  28. 1966 – 1976Cultural Revolution
  29. 1968Prague Spring
  30. 1969Apollo 11 Moon landing
  31. 19721972 Summer Olympics
  32. 19741974 FIFA World Cup
  33. 19781978 FIFA World Cup
  34. 1978 – 1979Iranian Revolution
  35. 1979 – 1989Soviet–Afghan War
  36. 1980 – 1988Iran–Iraq War
  37. 19841984 Summer Olympics
  38. 1985Schengen Agreement
  39. 19891989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
  40. 1989Fall of the Berlin Wall

Biography

Vera Florence Cooper Rubin (July 23, 1928 – December 25, 2016) was an American astronomer who pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates. She uncovered the discrepancy between the predicted and observed angular motion of galaxies by studying galactic rotation curves, the first evidence for the galaxy rotation problem, one key piece of evidence for dark matter. Measurements by other astronomers using 21 centimeter hydrogen line radio telescopes clinched the case.

Honored during her lifetime for her work, she received the Bruce Medal, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and the National Medal of Science, among others. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile is named in her honor. Her legacy is described by The New York Times as "ushering in a Copernican-scale change" in cosmological theory. Prominent theoretical physicist Lisa Randall and others have argued that Rubin was neglected for the Nobel Prize.

Rubin spent her life advocating for women in science, and mentored aspiring female astronomers.

Text from the Wikipedia article Vera Rubin, CC BY-SA 4.0

About this information

Dates and life events come from this person’s Wikidata entry.

We only show events that the sources give a date for. Anything without a date is left out rather than guessed.