IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3196 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 24, 2019 

Received; read twice, and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To designate the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope as the 

‘‘Vera C. Rubin Observatory’’. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vera C. Rubin Observ3 atory Designation Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

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

7 Philip and Rose Applebaum Cooper. 

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

9 Cornell University and Georgetown University, earn10 ing her Ph.D. in Physics in 1954. 

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

12 provided supporting evidence that galaxies are not 

13 uniformly distributed, but exist in clusters. 

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

15 of galaxies, first as research associate and assistant 

16 professor at Georgetown University, and then as a 

17 member of the staff at the Carnegie Institution of 

18 Washington Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. 

19 (5) Dr. Rubin faced barriers throughout her ca20 reer because of her gender. 

21 (6) For instance, one of the world’s leading as22 tronomy facilities at the time, the Palomar Observ23 atory, did not permit women. Dr. Rubin persisted 

24 and was finally allowed to observe at Palomar in 

25 1965, the first woman officially allowed to do so. 


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1 (7) In 1970, Dr. Rubin published measure2 ments of the Andromeda galaxy showing stars and 

3 gas orbiting the galaxy’s center too fast to be ex4 plained by the amount of mass associated with the 

5 light output of the stars. 

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

7 her collaborators used their observations, in conjunc8 tion with the work by earlier astronomers on the ro9 tation of stars in spiral galaxies, to provide some of 

10 the best evidence for the existence of dark matter. 

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

12 the conventional view of the universe, from one 

13 dominated by ordinary matter such as what pro14 duces the light of stars, to one dominated by dark 

15 matter. 

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

17 Academy of Sciences in 1981, the second woman as18 tronomer to be so honored. 

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

20 National Medal of Science in 1993 ‘‘for her pio21 neering research programs in observational cos22 mology which demonstrated that much of the matter 

23 in the universe is dark, and for significant contribu24 tions to the realization that the universe is more 


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HR 3196 RFS

1 complex and more mysterious than had been imag2 ined’’. 

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

4 the equal treatment and representation of women in 

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

6 role model to many women astronomers throughout 

7 her life. 

8 (13) The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, 

9 funded jointly by the National Science Foundation 

10 and the Department of Energy, will honor the legacy 

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

12 of dark matter by mapping and cataloging billions of 

13 galaxies through space and time. 

14 SEC. 3. DESIGNATION. 

15 The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope shall be known 

16 and designated as the ‘‘Vera C. Rubin Observatory’’. 

17 SEC. 4. REFERENCES. 

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

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


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

2 to the ‘‘Vera C. Rubin Observatory’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 23, 2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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