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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INTRODUCTION OF THE VERA RUBIN SURVEY TELESCOPE DESIGNATION ACT
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HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON
of texas
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, today I am joined by my Science
Committee colleague, Representative Gonzalez Colon, in introducing the
Vera Rubin Survey Telescope Designation Act.
Dr. Vera Cooper Rubin was a renowned astronomer and a staunch
advocate for women in science. She was also a trailblazer. Born in
1928, Dr. Rubin's interest in astronomy was ignited early. As a young
girl, she would rather stay up and watch the stars through her bedroom
window than go to sleep.
After graduating from Vassar College in 1948 as the only woman
astronomer in her class, Dr. Rubin hoped to pursue her doctoral studies
at Princeton. However, the Princeton astrophysics graduate program did
not admit women at the time and declined to send her a course catalog.
Dr. Rubin persisted and earned her master's degree at Cornell and her
Ph.D. at Georgetown University before joining the Carnegie
Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism.
As her career progressed, Dr. Rubin continued to face barriers
because of her gender. For instance, after becoming the first woman to
be officially permitted to observe at the prestigious Palomar
Observatory in 1965, she discovered that the building had no women's
restroom. Undeterred, Dr. Rubin created her own women's restroom by
pasting a skirt cutout over the stick figure of a man on the
observatory bathroom.
While Dr. Rubin was breaking down barriers, she was also
revolutionizing our understanding of the universe. In 1970, Dr. Rubin
and her collaborator Dr. Kent Ford published some of the best evidence
of the existence of dark matter. This groundbreaking work changed the
conventional view of the universe from one dominated by light-emitting
matter to one dominated by dark matter.
Dr. Rubin went on to become the second woman astronomer elected to
the National Academy of Sciences in 1981. She received the National
Medal of Science from President Clinton in 1993, and she received many
other honors and awards throughout her career.
Motivated by her own battle to garner respect as a woman in a male-
dominated field, Dr. Rubin worked tirelessly to encourage girls
interested in astronomy to pursue their dreams. She advocated for more
women members of the National Academy of Sciences and for more women on
review panels and academic search committees. She also advocated for
more opportunities for girls in science. In her address to the
University of California, Berkeley class of 1996, Dr. Rubin said
``science is competitive, aggressive, demanding. It is also
imaginative, inspiring, uplifting. You can do it, too,'' urging the
students to ``devise your own paths''.
Dr. Rubin has a well-deserved place in history. This bill will honor
her legacy by designating the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST),
jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of
Energy and set to begin operations in 2023, as the Vera Rubin Survey
Telescope. The LSST was designed, in part, to probe the nature of dark
matter. As a tribute to the woman whose pioneering work made this
pursuit possible, this bill would ensure that it bears her name.
I urge my colleagues to join us and help us move this legislation
forward into law.
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