Vera Rubin(1928–2016)

Vera Florence Cooper Rubin was an American astronomer who pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates. She uncovered the discrepancy between the predicted and observed angular motion of galaxies by studying galactic rotation curves, the first evidence for the galaxy rotation problem, one key piece of evidence for dark matter. Measurements by other astronomers using 21 centimeter hydrogen line radio telescopes clinched the case.

United States
3
Major Awards
421
Publications
9,111
Citations
37
h-index
90
i10-index
21.6
Avg Citations/Paper

Education

Cornell University
Vassar College
Georgetown University(Doctor of Philosophy)

Doctoral Advisors

Sandra FaberGeorge Gamow

Academy Memberships

National Academy of Sciences (US)American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Data Sources

Profile data aggregated from OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar, Wikidata, and curated award records. Citation metrics may vary between sources.