Symposium participants
collect on the front steps of Carnegie’s P Street building to pose
for a picture. Vera Rubin is fifth from the left in the first row.
Her husband, Bob, is on her right. |
Senior Fellow Vera Rubin of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism was
honored with the symposium Galaxies: Mind over Matter, at Carnegie’s
P Street administration building in Washington, D.C., on January 10 and
11. The event began with a public lecture by Staff Member Emeritus Allan
Sandage of the Observatories. Sandage’s talk, “Creation? Evolution?
Is the Expansion of the Universe Real?” was peppered with pointed,
humorous quips that kept everyone laughing. After welcoming remarks by Carnegie
president Maxine Singer on January 11, François Schweizer, who organized
the event, introduced the scientific talks. Sara Seager, who will join the
DTM staff this September, gave the first presentation, on characterizing
extrasolar planets. Alycia Weinberger, also of DTM, followed with her discussion
about dust disks around stars and what they can tell us about solar system
formation. DTM’s John Graham chaired the second session of the day.
In recognition of Rubin’s work raising the profile of women in science,
special guest and author Dava Sobel gave an informal talk about women in
Galileo’s time. The conference concluded with a session chaired by
Alan Dressler of the Observatories. |