Vera Rubin

By about age 12, I would prefer to stay up and watch the stars than go to sleep. I started learning. I started going to the library and reading. But it was initially just watching the stars from my bedroom that I really did. There was just nothing as interesting in my life as watching the stars every night.

So important is this dark matter to our understanding of the size, shape, and ultimate fate of the universe that the search for it will very likely dominate astronomy for the next few decades.

I try to do my science in a moral way, and, I believe that, ideally, science should be looked upon as something that helps us understand our role in the universe.

We know very little about the universe. I personally don't believe it's uniform and the same everywhere. That's like saying the earth is flat.

I had the usual friends who pointed out constellations of stars. But it really was watching the stars. It was getting some sense of the motion of the earth. I found it a remarkable thing.

Does Sex Matter? Of course it does. But does it matter enough to Matter? That's a different question.

Fame is fleeting. My numbers mean more to me than my name.

In my own life, my science and my religion are separate.

There was just nothing as interesting in my life as watching the stars every night.

My father was an electrical engineer. He's presently 92 and still could be holding down a job. He had a very analytical way of looking at things, and I enjoyed that very much. I think that was a very large influence.

Science progresses best when observations force us to alter our preconceptions.

The real prize is finding something new out there.