Vera Rubin and the hypothesis of dark matter existence

Abstract

Our solar system belongs to the Milky Way galaxy. The fact that there exist other galaxies is known since 1920s. They are indeed numerous, and bound together by gravitation to form clusters. In 1930s the existence of dark matter (which interacts gravitationally with normal matter, but does not interact with the electromagnetic force) was predicted to explain the very high speed of galaxies in clusters. Later on, in 1970s the same hypothesis was used by Vera Rubin and her collaborators on the unexpectedly high velocity of stars in galaxies. Vera Rubin achieved remarkable results as an astronomer, and had a complete and successful family life. In addition, she inspired and helped many women to follow their passion and enter the science fields dominated traditionally by men, as astronomy used to be. Dedicated to all Romanian women in research, who since March 19, 2018 have the legal right to work until the retirement age of men.

Authors

Mira-Cristiana Anisiu
Tiberiu Popoviciu Institute of Numerical Analysis, Romanian Academy

Keywords

Dark matter; Rotation curves; Doppler effect

Paper coordinates

M.-C. Anisiu, Vera Rubin and the hypothesis of dark matter existence, Didactica Mathematica 36 (2018), 13-23

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Journal

Didactica Mathematica

Publisher Name
DOI
Print ISSN

2602-0963

Online ISSN

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2018

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