(Jewish Group) This Jewish astronomer is the first woman to have an observatory named after her
When astronomer Vera Rubin first visited Caltech’s Palomar Observatory, a telescope facility, there was no restroom for her to use. See, in the mid-1960s, women weren’t even allowed inside the observatory, and thus the need for another bathroom was obsolete — that was, until the Jewish scientist became the first woman to observe at the facility.
Rubin fashioned a skirt out of paper and stuck it on the door to the men’s bathroom.
“There you go, now you have a ladies’ room,” the mother of four said.
Best known for discovering evidence of dark matter, this pioneering scientist died in 2016 at age 88. Yet she’s still breaking barriers, posthumously: The National Science Foundation announced this week that the first American national observatory to be named after a woman will honor the Jewish scientist.
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