Vera Rubin was married to Robert Joshua Rubin from 1948 until his death in 2008. She had children while undertaking her graduate studies at Cornell, and continued to work on her research while raising their young children. All four of their children earned PhDs in the natural sciences or mathematics: David (born 1950), is a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey; Judith Young (1952–2014), was an astronomer at the University of Massachusetts; Karl (born 1956), is a mathematician at the University of California at Irvine; and Allan (born 1960), is a geologist at Princeton University. Her children recalled later in life that their mother made a life of science appear desirable and fun, which inspired them to become scientists themselves.