New U.S. Coin Honors Astronomer Vera Rubin

The late astronomer Vera Rubin has an observatory named for her, and it’s on track to begin a 10-year sky survey from atop Cerro Pachón in northern Chile later this year. Now she also has a U.S. quarter-dollar coin with her likeness on the reverse. You don’t need to wait to get one in change at a convenience store — you can order some directly from the U.S. Mint.

Rubin’s coin was minted as part of the American Women Quarters series, launched in 2022 to honor “extraordinary women whose achievements, triumphs, and legacies reflect the strength and resilience” of the United States, according to a May 27th press release from the U.S. Mint. Five women have been celebrated each year, and the 2025 group is the last. The 2022 cohort included physicist-astronaut Sally Ride; Rubin is the only astronomer to be memorialized in the series, which wraps up this year.

“Dr. Rubin gathered crucial data to support the existence of the unseen material that binds entire galaxies together and is believed to make up more than 80 percent of the mass of the universe,” said Kristie McNally, the mint’s acting director, in the same press release. As with all U.S. quarter coins, George Washington’s profile appears on the obverse (front side). The reverse (back side) design features a profile of a smiling Rubin gazing upward with stars and a spiral galaxy in the background. Her name and the words “Dark Matter” appear too.

Artist Christina L. Hess designed the image, and John P. McGraw sculpted the mold. “Dr. Rubin's story exemplifies strength, dedication, and determination, and it was a great honor to illustrate her portrait and legacy,” said Hess in a statement. “By positioning her portrait off-center and toward the upper right, I aimed to move the audience’s gaze upward, symbolizing exploration beyond the coin's boundaries, evoking a sense of infinite possibility and continuous motion.”

Uncirculated Vera Rubin quarters are available in rolls of 40 and bags of 100. You can also get them in sets of five quarters, one featuring each of the women honored in 2025; these are proof quality (struck using specially prepared dies and blanks to produce a highly detailed, mirror-like finish) and come in regular (copper-nickel alloy) and 99.9% silver versions. American Women Quarters from 2022, 2023, and 2024 remain available too.

In case you’re wondering, it would take 2.284 billion Vera Rubin quarters to cover the $571 million cost of the Vera Rubin Observatory.