World-renowned scientist Vera Rubin passed away on Dec. 25 at the age of 88 at an assisted living facility in Princeton, New Jersey.

Rubin is known for her pioneering work and discoveries of dark matter. Many scientists held Rubin's revolutionary works as major factor on how modern scientists observe, measure, and understand the immensity of the universe.

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Rubin's works on dark matter were made primarily alongside her colleague W. Kent Ford. The idea of dark matter existed since the 1930s, but it was not until Rubin's exhaustive work that the concept was finally proven. Rubin officially proved the existence of dark matter in the 1970s, and many scientists considered it as one of the most significant discoveries in astronomy during the 20th century.

In a statement acquired by The Washington Post, University of Washington astronomer Emily Levesque said, "The existence of dark matter has utterly revolutionized our concept of the universe and our entire field. The ongoing effort to understand the role of dark matter has basically spawned entire subfields within astrophysics and particle physics."

Rubin spent most of her career at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. For several years, she was one of the leading scientists considered for the Nobel Prize, but the prize was not awarded to her. Some critics said that gender bias may have played a significant factor as the Nobel Prize committee has, most of the time, picked male scientists over their female counterparts.

According to The Guardian, Rubin have experienced gender discrimination since early in her life. When she tried to enroll as a graduate student at Princeton, she was flatly told "Princeton does not accept women."

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