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born 1928

Vera Rubin began life as a stargazer + retired a celebrated observational cosmologist. Her work has shone light on the dynamics of more than 200 galaxies. But she's most famous for her discoveries about the stuff we can't see, even through high-powered telescopes. In the 1970s, Vera confirmed the existence of "dark matter" ~ a mysterious substance that makes up most of the universe's mass. It's an observation that forever changed our view of the cosmos.

A long-time D.C. researcher, Vera was a STEM trailblazer whose immigrant parents encouraged her to pursue science at a time when teachers were actively discouraging her from doing so. Today, the astronomer mentors those pushing the frontiers of knowledge ~ including 4 children of her own with science PhDs.

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Carnegie Institution of Science
National Medal of Science
Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters shop

her quotes

all quotes by Vera Rubin (14)

"Fame is fleeting. My numbers mean more to me than my name."

Discover | october 1990

"Science is competitive, aggressive, demanding. It is also imaginative, inspiring, uplifting."

University of California at Berkeley commencement address | may 1996

"Each one of you can change the world, for you are made of star stuff, and you are connected to the universe."

University of California at Berkeley commencement address | may 1996

"It appears that life on our planet came about through a succession of random events."

Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters | september 1997

"Just as single life is a random walk and not a computer program, so the evolution of life on earth has been a continuing random walk."

Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters | september 1997

"I hope you will disdain mediocrity and aim to excel in whatever you do. I hope you will fight injustice and discrimination in all of its guises."

Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters | september 1997

"I insisted on working on problems outside the main stream of astronomy so that I could work at my own pace and not be pressured by bandwagons."

Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters | september 1997

"As far back as I can remember, I was puzzled by the curious workings of the world, and especially of the sky."

Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters | september 1997

"Scientists too seldom stress the enormity of our ignorance."

Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters | september 1997

"We live in a big, old galaxy—just one galaxy among billions in a big, old universe."

Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters | september 1997

"In a 70-year lifespan, the sun moves 300,000,000,000 miles. Yet, this vast path is only a tiny arc of a single orbit: it takes the sun 200,000,000 years to orbit once about the galaxy."

Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters | september 1997

"Within a galaxy, everything moves . . . In the universe, all galaxies are in motion. Most of my professional career has been devoted to understanding the motions of stars within galaxies, and motions of galaxies in the universe."

Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters | september 1997

"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."

13 things that do not make sense | march 2005

"I study the universe. And that's a lot."

American University commencement address | may 2011

quoteurs we recommend...

Alice Bowman
physicist | NASA mission ops manager
Sally Ride
first US woman in space
Maria Mitchell
astronomer

for further reading about Vera Rubin:

  • Quotabelle profile
  • Vera Rubin

curated with care by Alicia Williamson + Chenise Williams

a young stargazer

Born in Philadelphia, Vera learned to love the stars after her family relocated to Washington, D.C., where she would spend nights starring out of her bedroom window. She built her own telescope and, with the encouragement of her father the electrical engineer, studied science in college + grad school.

Vera Rubin

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Vera Rubin

Vera joined the Carnegie Institution of Science as a researcher in 1965. She made her biggest breakthroughs in the 1970s ~ proving the existence of dark matter. Here, she does work on one of the Carnegie's 84-foot telescopes.

Department of Terrestrial Magnetism | Carnegie Institution of Washington

Vera Rubin

Vera faced severe criticism {which many chock up to sexism} for her early work since it upended Newtonian physics. As with most scientific theories, her research remains a subject of debate. But no one is debating her status as an astronomy giant.