In the cosmos’ vast expanse, a shining star was born,
Vera Rubin, a pioneer, her brilliance brightly worn.
Born to Eastern European roots, in Philadelphia’s embrace,
She gazed up at the heavens, her heart set on space.

With a cardboard tube and dreams, as a child, she’d pretend,
Unaware of barriers, into a man’s world she’d transcend.
“I didn’t know,” she said, “of astronomers, male or female,
For stars and galaxies, my passion would prevail.”

At Vassar College, she blazed a trail, the only one to stand,
With an astronomy degree, she charted her own grand plan.
Princeton, she hoped, would be her next guiding light,
But doors were closed to women, a dim and biased sight.

Undeterred, she pressed on, at Cornell she sought to learn,
Her master’s degree obtained a fierce determination to discern.
Georgetown awarded her a Ph.D., her spirit unconfined,
In a world of men, Vera Rubin’s brilliance aligned.

At Carnegie Institute’s post, she faced another test,
Barriers in her path, yet she refused to rest.
To unlock the universe’s secrets, her mind ablaze,
She fought for tools and access, through the tangled maze.

A pioneer she became, the first to seek and find,
The Palomar Observatory, where the stars aligned.
Yet even there, she faced a world where bias clung,
As she boldly placed a skirt upon the bathroom’s sign.

She met with George Gamow, a renowned astrophysicist,
But offices were off-limits, a realm she could not persist.
Undeterred, she took her stand, resilience in her core,
In the face of prejudice, she sought to soar.

Her groundbreaking revelation, a cosmic revelation grand,
Stars defied expectations, moving as one hand in hand.
Dark matter, unseen and vast, her genius did uncover,
A Copernican shift in thought, her legacy to smother.

The universe she explored, its mysteries she’d embrace,
Discoveries aplenty, as she gazed into deep space.
Her spirit soared beyond the sky, her passion knew no bounds,
Her light still shines, and her name in astrophysics resounds.

Vera Rubin, a trailblazer, a woman of great might,
An emblem of resilience, an advocate for what’s right.
Though she’s left this earthly plane, her impact still remains,
In the hearts of dreamers, her legacy sustains.