Astronomy was not supposed to take root at DTM, yet it has existed there longer than the discipline for which the Department was originally founded. The astronomy section grew out of the amiable partnership of Vera C. Rubin and W. Kent Ford and was nurtured by a unique environment formed by shared offices around a central basement library meeting room that naturally encouraged discussion. Rubin, an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, encountered the Department through her thesis advisor, George Gamow, who used its library for conferences with her, convenient for him because he was visiting the biophysics group. After obtaining the Georgetown position she visited Burke from time to time to discuss her work on the rotation of galaxies and inquired about the possibility of some kind of position. The query came at an opportune moment because an optical astronomer, Alois Purgathofer, who had been working with Ford on image tubes, had given notice that he was returning to Austria, and Tuve wanted an astronomer to provide guidance, so she was immediately hired. It was the first that Rubin had heard about image tubes. The two made an immediate and excellent combination. Rubin's compelling passion for astronomy matched perfectly with Ford's instrumental skills and soon transformed the physicist into an astronomer. The atmosphere that they created began to attract increasing numbers of students, postdocs, visitors and staff members.