“Vera Rubin Didn’t Discover Dark Matter,” MFAW-VT faculty member Richard Panek‘s tribute
to revolutionary American astroner Vera Rubin, is live at ScientificAmerican.com.
Rubin (1928-2016) pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates and uncovered the discrepancy between the predicted angular motion of galaxies and the observed motion by studying galactic rotation curves.  Initially, Rubin’s galaxy rotation problem was met with skepticism, but her results were confirmed over subsequent decades.
Panek, a Guggenheim Fellow, is the author of The 4% Universe:  Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality, which won the American Institute of Physics communication award in 2012.