I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3196 

To designate the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope as the ‘‘Vera Rubin Survey 

Telescope’’. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 11, 2019 

Ms. JOHNSON of Texas (for herself and Miss GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N of Puerto 

Rico) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

To designate the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope as the 

‘‘Vera Rubin Survey Telescope’’. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vera Rubin Survey 

5 Telescope Designation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Dr. Vera Rubin was born July 23, 1928, to 

9 Philip and Rose Applebaum Cooper. 


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1 (2) Dr. Rubin pursued her graduate studies at 

2 Cornell University and Georgetown University, earn3 ing her Ph.D. in Physics in 1954. 

4 (3) Dr. Rubin’s Ph.D. thesis on galaxy motions 

5 provided supporting evidence that galaxies are not 

6 uniformly distributed, but exist in clusters. 

7 (4) Dr. Rubin continued to study the motions 

8 of galaxies, first as research associate and assistant 

9 professor at Georgetown University, and then as a 

10 member of the staff at the Carnegie Institution of 

11 Washington Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. 

12 (5) Dr. Rubin faced barriers throughout her ca13 reer because of her gender. 

14 (6) For instance, one of the world’s leading as15 tronomy facilities at the time, the Palomar Observ16 atory, did not permit women. Dr. Rubin persisted 

17 and was finally allowed to observe at Palomar in 

18 1965, the first woman officially allowed to do so. 

19 (7) In 1970, Dr. Rubin published measure20 ments of the Andromeda galaxy showing stars and 

21 gas orbiting the galaxy’s center too fast to be ex22 plained by the amount of mass associated with the 

23 light output of the stars. 

24 (8) In the years that followed, Dr. Rubin and 

25 her collaborators used their observations, in conjuncVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3196.IH H3196

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1 tion with the work by earlier astronomers on the ro2 tation of stars in spiral galaxies, to provide some of 

3 the best evidence for the existence of dark matter. 

4 (9) This work contributed to a major shift in 

5 the conventional view of the universe, from one 

6 dominated by ordinary matter such as what pro7 duces the light of stars, to one dominated by dark 

8 matter. 

9 (10) Dr. Rubin was elected to the National 

10 Academy of Sciences in 1981, the second woman as11 tronomer to be so honored. 

12 (11) Dr. Rubin was awarded the President’s 

13 National Medal of Science in 1993 ‘‘for her pio14 neering research programs in observational cos15 mology which demonstrated that much of the matter 

16 in the universe is dark, and for significant contribu17 tions to the realization that the universe is more 

18 complex and more mysterious than had been imag19 ined’’. 

20 (12) Dr. Rubin was an outspoken advocate for 

21 the equal treatment and representation of women in 

22 science, and she served as a mentor, supporter, and 

23 role model to many women astronomers throughout 

24 her life. 


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1 (13) The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, 

2 funded jointly by the National Science Foundation 

3 and the Department of Energy, will honor the legacy 

4 of Dr. Rubin and her colleagues to probe the nature 

5 of dark matter by mapping and cataloging billions of 

6 galaxies through space and time. 

7 SEC. 3. DESIGNATION. 

8 The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope shall be known 

9 and designated as the ‘‘Vera Rubin Survey Telescope’’. 

10 SEC. 4. REFERENCES. 

11 Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, 

12 paper, or other record of the United States to the facility 

13 described in section 3 shall be deemed to be a reference 

14 to the ‘‘Vera Rubin Survey Telescope’’. 

Æ 


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