Vera Rubin Flashcards
Who is she?
An astronomer
What did she study at Cornell?
The motions of 109 galaxies
First women to do what?
To legally use the Hale telescope
What did she specialize in?
The galaxy rotation curve
What is a galaxy rotation curve?
It is the variation in the orbital circular velocity of stars or gas clouds at different distances from the center.
What did she discover?
The Andromeda Galaxy was spinning differently than expected. Then she discovered…. DARK MATTER
What is dark matter?
It is matter that you can’t see but whose gravity affects visible matter and background radiation.
How did she discover dark matter?
She noticed that the stars on the outside and the inside has the same velocity in the galaxy rotation curve.
What challenges did she face?
Sexism.
How did she combat sexism?
She encouraged women in science. She fought for women representation in the Cosmos Club.
