Happy Atheist Forum

General => Obituaries => Topic started by: Tank on December 27, 2016, 01:36:41 AM

Title: Vera Rubin.
Post by: Tank on December 27, 2016, 01:36:41 AM
Vera Rubin, pioneering astronomer, dies at 88 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38440291)

2016 has seen a lot of people pass away.

QuoteAstronomer Vera Rubin, whose pioneering work on galaxy rotation rates led to the theory of dark matter, has died at the age of 88, her son says.

Allan Rubin said she died on Sunday of natural causes, AP reported. She was living in Princeton, New Jersey.

Her studies earned her numerous honours, including being the second female astronomer to be elected to the US National Academy of Sciences...
Title: Re: Vera Rubin.
Post by: Dave on December 27, 2016, 08:17:10 AM
Always sad, if inevitable, that such people die.

I am often surprised to hear of the death of some one who has done significant work in some field but who has never been in the public eye. Well, not in my public eye anyway and I do try to keep track.
Title: Re: Vera Rubin.
Post by: Tank on December 27, 2016, 09:15:09 AM
I remember her on an episode of Horizon explaining Dark Matter.
Title: Re: Vera Rubin.
Post by: Tank on December 27, 2016, 09:21:12 AM
I suspect she has no Nobel prize because while she discovered and elucidated the rotational anomalies of galaxies her explanation is at the moment an unproven 'place holder'. Should Dark Matter be discovered then I would expect she will receive appropriate acknowledgement.
Title: Re: Vera Rubin.
Post by: xSilverPhinx on December 27, 2016, 01:10:57 PM
I don't know who that is but it is sad that such people pass away.
Title: Re: Vera Rubin.
Post by: Firebird on December 27, 2016, 03:21:09 PM
Quote from: Tank on December 27, 2016, 09:21:12 AM
I suspect she has no Nobel prize because while she discovered and elucidated the rotational anomalies of galaxies her explanation is at the moment an unproven 'place holder'. Should Dark Matter be discovered then I would expect she will receive appropriate acknowledgement.

Unfortunately, they don't give Nobel Prizes posthumously. But hopefully she would receive acknowledgement in some form.
Title: Re: Vera Rubin.
Post by: Tank on December 27, 2016, 03:48:59 PM
Quote from: Firebird on December 27, 2016, 03:21:09 PM
Quote from: Tank on December 27, 2016, 09:21:12 AM
I suspect she has no Nobel prize because while she discovered and elucidated the rotational anomalies of galaxies her explanation is at the moment an unproven 'place holder'. Should Dark Matter be discovered then I would expect she will receive appropriate acknowledgement.

Unfortunately, they don't give Nobel Prizes posthumously. But hopefully she would receive acknowledgement in some form.

I am aware they don't give posthumous Nobels. If Vera's work was a perfect example of observation without bias. Her discovery of galactic rotational anomalies has shaped cosmology ever since.