In January, the American Astronomical Society hosted a panel to discuss how the Vera C. Rubin Observatory would transform scientific studies of dark matter, dark energy and the faintest corners of the cosmos.
All six panelists, each holding a leadership role related to the observatory, were women.
The message, intentional or not, was clear: The legacy of the astronomer Vera C. Rubin, for whom the observatory was named, was not just the way her work revolutionized scientists’ understanding of the universe. It was also the way Dr. Rubin charted a path for women and other historically underrepresented groups in science to do the same.
“The universe is universal,” Sandrine Thomas, the deputy director of construction at the observatory, said at the panel.
The telescope is now poised to begin the widest, deepest scan of the southern sky in an altered political climate, one in which American science is facing sharp cuts to funding, research project cancellations and rollbacks of programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion, or D.E.I.
Astronomers worry about what that means for the future of the observatory, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation and was renamed in 2019 near the end of the first Trump administration for Dr. Rubin.
“She was the ultimate role model for women in astronomy in the generation after her,” said Jacqueline Mitton, an astronomer based in England and an author of a biography of Dr. Rubin.
