Alum Vera Rubin receives award for achievements in astrophysics

Stephen Cheung Staff Writer

Dr. Vera Cooper Rubin was named the recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award for 2007. As such she delivered a lecture entitled “How I Left Vassar and Found Dark Matter: Reflections on Vassar and Astronomy,” in Sanders Auditorium at 3:30 p.m., on Feb. 8, at an event hosted by the Alumnae and Alumni Association of Vassar College (AAVC). AAVC president Meg Johnson introduced Rubin, praising the astronomer for helping to bring “science and equality” to women.

Rubin was a 1948 Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Vassar, and earned a degree in astronomy. She continued her astronomy studies at Cornell University, where she received an M.A., and at Georgetown University, where she earned her Ph.D.

Although she originally wanted to enter Princeton University’s graduate astronomy program, she was refused a course catalogue on the basis of her gender. Upon receiving an honorary Doctor of Science degree, from Princeton in 2005, she noted, “It was a fair bargain. An honorary degree is better than a catalogue.” She has received honorary degrees from other universities and has over 150 scientific publications to her credit.

Rubin’s talk focused on her own life and astronomical work, accompanied by digital slides. “Everybody was studying the center of the galaxy. But nobody was studying what was outside the galaxy,” she said about her career decisions as an astronomer.

By studying the galaxy’s outer areas, Rubin formed the concept of “dark matter” after studying the rotation curves of galaxies, thier motions within clusters of galaxies and gravitational lensing. Rubin also analyzed dark matter in terms of Newtonian gravitational theory.

As for the meaning of dark matter, Rubin said, “Particle physicists [have determined that they are] particles that have no light but act gravitationally.” After her work on dark matter, Rubin went on to study numerous galaxies. The lecture ended with a motion-based slide showing a merger of the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies in the span of two billion to five billion years.

During the question-and-answer session, Rubin credited dark matter for “rejuvenating” particle physics and said, “I suspect we won’t know what dark matter is until we know what gravity is.” Gravity is still a scientific theory.

With regard to her time at Vassar, Rubin said, “I owe an enormous debt” to the College for serving as a source of personal confidence.