Museum Exhibit

Vera Rubin

1928 – 2016

Major Discovery

Galaxy rotation studies supplied major evidence for dark matter

Vera Rubin

Biography

Her Story

Vera Rubin studied how stars orbit within galaxies. Working with Kent Ford, she found that stars far from galactic centers moved much faster than expected from visible matter alone. The results provided powerful observational evidence that galaxies contain large amounts of unseen mass, now described as dark matter.

Field

Astronomy

Nationality

American

Discovery

Galaxy rotation studies supplied major evidence for dark matter

Nobel

Life Timeline

Important Moments

1928

Born

Career

Galaxy rotation studies supplied major evidence for dark matter

2016

Legacy continues.