Book Review: Vera Rubin: A Life

Book Review: Vera Rubin: A Life, by Jacqueline Mitton and Simon Mitton, Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2021, ISBN 9780674919198, hardbound, $29.95 US

Reviewed by Francine Jackson

Last month, Brown Astrophysicist Ian Dell’Antonio, in his observation journey to South America, mentioned that the 8.4 meter Vera Rubin telescope is being constructed on Cerro Pachon, right next door to his observing site on Cerro Tololo. But, exactly, who was Vera Rubin? Simon and Jacqueline Mitton have written the exclusive book on her, which is reviewed below:

In reading this book, I was taken by how close Vera Rubin’s life paralleled that of Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin. Both were very young when they wanted to become a scientist: Payne by observing a flower, Rubin by looking out of her bedroom window and watching the stars. Both worked while married and having children, and both changed the face of astronomy.

Rubin, though, married young, to a man who also wanted to have a science career – in his case, mathematics – and, because of this, they both found ways of doing their best in what they did. With Vera Rubin, it was trying to discern the motion of galaxies. This she accomplished by means of an image tube, which could collect more photons than a photographic plate alone. She, along with the tube’s inventor, Kent Ford, then spent decades determining galactic motion, which led to the “discovery” of the previously theorized dark matter.

Originally hired to teach, Rubin soon found her true calling, using telescopes to determine how galaxies rotate. Her studies, beginning with the observations of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, created conclusions never before dreamed of. With Ford, she then spent her life applying for time at many observatories, in both North and South America, intending to truly learn what the structure of the universe actually consisted of. Through the years, she interacted with many of the major astronomers of the day; however, her family members were never far away. Even though we think of her major life as that of science, her priority was her family.

The authors, Simon and Jacqueline Mitton, have written a book that shows Rubin at her finest. She, and her colleague Ford, spent decades traveling the world’s telescopes, doing the best work on galactic structure. Rubin also was extremely meticulous in her paperwork, sometimes spending more time with her calculations than anyone else would have, just to be sure that what they were observing was true. It is no wonder the world’s next major observatory will have her name on it.

My only concern was that Kent Ford, though he seemed to be with her during all her observatory time, as it was his invention that allowed her to be the best she could be, seemed to be more of a “shadow” person, a follower, than a true scientist. Perhaps someone could delve into his life, to determine how much he contributed in all she did. Rubin does deserve all the accolades she received, but perhaps her colleague deserves a bit more mention.