[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 97 (Tuesday, June 11, 2019)]
[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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