Cosmos incognito : Vera Rubin shines light on dark matter

This thesis, a profile of astronomer Vera Rubin, highlights her scientific achievements, most notably the irrefutable evidence she gathered to persuade the astronomical community that galaxies spin at a faster speed than Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation allows. As a result of this finding, astronomers conceded that the universe must be filled with more material than they can see. Scientists call this mysterious substance dark matter. This submission explains the scientific history of dark matter, its acceptance, and the current research being done to test its existence. It also mentions counter theories to the dark matter hypothesis and looks at Vera Rubin's current work and how this research will help astronomers better understand the construction of the cosmos and its evolution.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writing

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Yeager, Ashley

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Marcia Bartusiak.

• Graduate Program in Science Writing.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45424

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/45424