American astronomer Vera Rubin dedicated her life to delving into the secrets of space. Although she never stated it explicitly, her comment about watching the stars best sums up her deep fascination with the cosmos.

Rubin's story started when she was a young child and was enthralled with the beauty and vastness of the night sky. As she got more involved in scientific research, especially the study of galaxies and their movements, this early interest grew even more. She noticed that, according to the then-current laws of physics, the stars didn't behave precisely as predicted.

Picture a person standing beneath a massive tree with innumerable branches that reach upward and out into the sky. Every leaf is a star inside a galaxy, and each branch is a galaxy. Examining each leaf in detail to determine how it moves in relation to its branch and the surrounding wind was similar to Rubin's work. Something odd caught her attention: some stars appeared to be traveling too quickly for where they were on their galaxies' branches.

She proposed the existence of dark matter—an invisible substance that does not emit light but has a gravitational pull on visible matter, such as stars—as a result of this observation. She is regarded as one of the most significant astronomers of the 20th century because of her work, which questioned accepted theories and established a new area of astronomical research.

Rubin's commitment to learning about the universe is comparable to a sailor navigating through murky waters with only far-off stars for direction. Rubin discovered meaning and purpose in studying the night sky, just as the sailor finds solace and guidance in those dim lights. She found no other activity to be nearly as fascinating as the intricacy and beauty of celestial bodies.

Vera Rubin demonstrated through her life's work how the seemingly simple act of gazing up at the stars each night can result in ground-breaking scientific discoveries and expand our knowledge of the cosmos.