WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 31
to her groundbreaking discovery
of dark matter.
Roman moved from Yerkes to
spend three and a half years at the
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory,
acquainting herself with the
relatively new field of radio
astronomy before taking the
administrative position at NASA.
There, Roman won her colleagues’
respect as she relentlessly fought
to give astronomers the tools they
needed to probe the cosmos.
And astronomers anticipate the
Rubin Observatory and Roman
Space Telescope, like their name-
sakes, will make groundbreaking
discoveries about our universe.
Each telescope will provide
both wide-angle and pinpoint
clarity in every image, and both
are principally survey telescopes
designed to create a catalog of sky
objects and phenomena at unprec-
edented scales. They will each
make much of their data available
worldwide, free and in real time.
“I think we’re entering a new
paradigm of astronomical
instant gratification,” Nobel
laureate Adam Riess of Johns
Hopkins University recently said
in an online webinar. Unlike the
previously established method
of discovering a few interesting
objects and then spending
months or years to requesting
more time to observe them, he
says, “to me, it’s very exciting as
a scientist that we’re going to be
able to dive right into everything
we see without waiting.”
That “we” includes the steadily
increasing ranks of women in
astronomy. As director of under-
graduate studies and the first
female professor in Princeton’s
astronomy department (where
Rubin was long ago denied admis-
sion), astrophysicist Neta Bahcall
is optimistic the trend will con-
tinue. Bahcall knew both women
well; she was close friends with
Rubin until her death in 2016.
“My main advice to young
women in science is don’t pay
attention to the negative com-
ments you get. Just do what you
enjoy and what you’re good at. Be
resilient and persevere,” she says.“Nancy was tough as nails, and
that’s why she succeeded at NASA
in getting things done,” Bahcall
says. “Vera just loved doing her
science — taking data, looking at
it herself and analyzing it. [She]
always told me she wanted to find
research that not that many peo-
ple were working on. That’s what
she found most comfortable, not
competing with everybody else.”
Rubin said herself in a 1990
Discover magazine interview:
“Fame is f leeting. My numbers
mean more to me than my name.
If astronomers are still using my
data years from now, that’s my
greatest compliment.”
Two of the decade’s most pow-
erful new telescopes will soon
celebrate that spirit, showing just
how far science has come in the
past century, thanks to its
extraordinary women.Randall Hyman is a journalist and
photographer whose work has been
featured in numerous publications,
including Smithsonian, Science,
and The Atlantic.ABOVE: Vera Rubin
(left) and Nancy
Grace Roman during
the NASA-sponsored
Women in Astronomy
and Space Science
2009 meeting in
Adelphi, Maryland.
NASA, JAY FREIDLANDERLEFT: In her role as
chief astronomer,
Roman shaped
NASA’s space
astronomy program.
This 1965 snapshot
captures Roman as
she discusses the
Advanced Orbiting
Solar Observatory
with future
moonwalker
Buzz Aldrin. NASA