Home Physics Unsung hero of our scientific world: Vera Rubin

  • 02/02/2018 at 6:17 pm 0 likes

    Back in 70s, Vera looked at galaxies and how they rotated. There she noted a discrepancy: the outermost components of the galaxy moved as quickly as those close to the centre. Furthermore, galaxies rotated in a way to indicate that other forces were at plays. What other, invisible forces are there in the Universe? Dark matter, the most mysterious and fascinating topic of all. Einstein had theorised that the Universe is made of matter and dark matter, but nobody had proven it util Vera came along. The fact that galaxies were affected in their rotation proved that they were surrounded by dark matter, as dark matter is gravity and will affect how galaxies rotate.
    Unsung because Vera never got the proper recognition she deserved for her groundbreaking work, most scientists agree nowadays that she deserved a Nobel prize. Vera was a passionate advocate for women in STEM, Imagine that she had to install a Women toilet at the Observatory where she was working as there weren’t any!

  • 0 Replies

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.