Astronomer, Cornell graduate Dr. Vera Rubin to be honored on U.S. quarter
CORNELL, N.Y. (WETM) – An astronomer who graduated from Cornell University and gathered years worth of research that uncovered the existence of dark matter will now be featured on a U.S. quarter, as reported by Cornell's alumni publication Cornellians.
Dr. Vera Cooper Rubin has been awarded the honor through the American Women Quarters Program, which was launched in 2022 by the U.S. Mint in partnership with the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum. The program honors five women each year with an individual design on the back side of the quarter.
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The four other honorees to join Rubin in 2025, the program's final year, include athlete Althea Gibson, Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low, disabilities activist Stacey Park Milbern and journalist and suffragist Ida B. Wells. These five quarter designs will circulate throughout the country over the next several months.
Cornellians states that in 1985 Rubin, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 88, presented groundbreaking research to the International Astronomical Union, which truly shifted scientific conceptions of the universe and opened new pathways for astronomy and physics research. Rubin then proceeded to win both the U.S. National Medal of Science and the Gold Medal from the U.K.'s Royal Astronomical Society.
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Although she made history with her research, Cornellians states that Rubin faced many issues with sexism and dismissals of her research in the beginning of her studies.
In addition to making history with her research, Cornellians states that Rubin is also believed to be the first Cornell alumnus who has ever been pictured on a circulating U.S. coin, as well as the only astronomer to be featured on a circulating coin according to Jay Beeton, the former director of the American Numismatic Association Money Museum.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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