Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Celebrate Vera Rubin -- a WOMAN of science!

     This morning's Washington Post carried an obituary of Vera Rubin (1928-2016),  a pioneering astronomer who confirmed the existence of dark matter.  Yesterday's NPR feature -- noting Rubin's death and celebrating her life -- contained several quotes from this outstanding scientist about women's roles.  Two of these poetic statements I have shaped into syllable-square stanzas:

World wide, half
of    all    brains
are    women's. 

There is no problem
in science that can
be solved by a man
that  can't  also  be
solved by a woman.

About Congress, Rubin noted:
 We need senators 
who studied physics,
representatives 
who can understand 
earth's ecology.
Here is a link to a poem (at poets.org) by Alicia Ostriker that treats the topic of Rubin's research (for which many thought she should have won a Nobel prize) -- "Dark Matter and Dark Energy."

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