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. By identifying the galaxy rotation problem, her work provided evidence for the existence of dark matter. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Vera Rubin has received more than 954,854 page views. Her biography is available in 59 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 50 in 2019). Vera Rubin is the 48th most popular astronomer (up from 61st in 2019), the 730th most popular biography from United States (up from 993rd in 2019) and the 6th 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.

Memorability Metrics

  • 950k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 64.50

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 59

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 8.08

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.61

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among ASTRONOMERS

Among astronomers, Vera Rubin ranks 48 out of 644. Before her are Sosigenes of Alexandria, Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, Jérôme Lalande, Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Gerard Kuiper, and Ferdinand Verbiest. After her are Clyde Tombaugh, Riccardo Giacconi, William Lassell, Varāhamihira, Pierre Janssen, and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1928, Vera Rubin ranks 41. Before her are Domenico Modugno, Peyo, Hans Küng, George Peppard, Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, and Manfred Gerlach. After her are Federico Bahamontes, Herbert Kroemer, Carlos Fuentes, Francesco Cossiga, Tommaso Buscetta, and Maya Angelou. Among people deceased in 2016, Vera Rubin ranks 39. Before her are Andrzej Żuławski, Walter Scheel, Gene Wilder, John Glenn, Harper Lee, and George Kennedy. After her are Zsa Zsa Gabor, Věra Čáslavská, James Cronin, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Ray Tomlinson, and Esma Redžepova.

Others Born in 1928

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Others Deceased in 2016

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Vera Rubin ranks 730 out of 20,380. Before her are Alexander Calder (1898), Danny Glover (1946), Mel Brooks (1926), John Lithgow (1945), Donald Rumsfeld (1932), and Rosalynn Carter (1927). After her are Kamehameha I (1758), Doris Day (1922), Henry Mancini (1924), Christopher Lambert (1957), Clyde Tombaugh (1906), and Thorstein Veblen (1857).

Others born in United States

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Among ASTRONOMERS In United States

Among astronomers born in United States, Vera Rubin ranks 6. Before her are Edwin Hubble (1889), Carl Sagan (1934), Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958), Charles Greeley Abbot (1872), and Robert Woodrow Wilson (1936). After her are Clyde Tombaugh (1906), William Alfred Fowler (1911), Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868), Asaph Hall (1829), Eugene Merle Shoemaker (1928), and Russell Alan Hulse (1950).

American born Astronomers

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