ASTRONOMER

Vera Rubin

1928 - 2016

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Vera Florence Cooper Rubin (; July 23, 1928 – December 25, 2016) 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. Her work on the galaxy rotation problem produced the first widely accepted evidence for the existence of dark matter. Honored throughout her lifetime for her work, she received the Bruce Medal, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and the National Medal of Science, among others. Read more on Wikipedia

Her biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Vera Rubin is the 72nd most popular astronomer (down from 48th in 2019), the 940th most popular biography from United States (down from 730th in 2019) and the 12th most popular American Astronomer.

Vera Rubin was an astronomer and professor of astronomy at Georgetown University. She was most famous for her discovery that galaxies rotate at the same speed regardless of their distance from Earth. This discovery contradicted the prevailing theory that stars farther away from Earth should be moving slower than those closer to Earth.

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Among ASTRONOMERS

Among astronomers, Vera Rubin ranks 72 out of 644. Before her are Gerard Kuiper, Johann Franz Encke, Max Wolf, Edward Emerson Barnard, Annibale de Gasparis, and Simon Marius. After her are Albert Marth, Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander, Pierre Méchain, Pierre Janssen, Russell Alan Hulse, and Wilhelm Tempel.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1928, Vera Rubin ranks 48. Before her are Jean Kennedy Smith, George Peppard, Kim Yong-nam, Alberto Korda, Alvin Toffler, and Carlos Fuentes. After her are Manfred Gerlach, Li Ka-shing, Francesco Cossiga, Li Peng, Alfonso de Portago, and Eugene Merle Shoemaker. Among people deceased in 2016, Vera Rubin ranks 46. Before her are Gabriele Amorth, Alvin Toffler, Junko Tabei, Andrzej Żuławski, Frano Selak, and George Kennedy. After her are Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Reinhard Selten, Bernardo Provenzano, Esma Redžepova, Viktor Korchnoi, and Gene Wilder.

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Vera Rubin ranks 940 out of 20,380. Before her are Baruch Samuel Blumberg (1925), Philip Glass (1937), Laura Branigan (1952), Jane Addams (1860), William Hurt (1950), and Walter Hill (1942). After her are Michael Bloomberg (1942), Melanie (1947), Jamie Lee Curtis (1958), Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930), Nancy Pelosi (1940), and Alvin York (1887).

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Among ASTRONOMERS In United States

Among astronomers born in United States, Vera Rubin ranks 12. Before her are Robert Woodrow Wilson (1936), Vesto Slipher (1875), Asaph Hall (1829), Clyde Tombaugh (1906), William Alfred Fowler (1911), and Edward Emerson Barnard (1857). After her are Russell Alan Hulse (1950), Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868), Percival Lowell (1855), Eugene Merle Shoemaker (1928), George O. Abell (1927), and Henry Norris Russell (1877).

American born Astronomers

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