Edwin Hubble

Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953) was an American astronomer. He played a key role in developing the fields of extragalactic astronomy and observational cosmology.

Hubble showed that many objects once thought to be clouds of dust and gas, called "nebulae," were actually galaxies far outside our own Milky Way. He used a special way to measure distances to these objects, based on work done by Henrietta Swan Leavitt.

In 1929, Hubble discovered that the farther away a galaxy is, the faster it moves from us. This idea, known as Hubble's law, helped scientists understand that the universe is expanding. His work changed how we see the cosmos.

Today, the Hubble Space Telescope carries his name as a tribute to his important discoveries. A model of the telescope can still be seen in his hometown of Marshfield, Missouri.

Early life and education

Edwin Hubble was born in 1889 in Marshfield, Missouri, and later moved to Wheaton, Illinois. Though he was known for his sports skills, playing baseball, football, and track and field, he also did well in school except in spelling.

He studied mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy at the University of Chicago and earned a Bachelor of Science degree by 1910. Later, as a Rhodes Scholar, he went to The Queen's College, Oxford to study jurisprudence, keeping a promise to his father. After his father passed away, Hubble decided not to practice law and instead taught physics and mathematics at New Albany High School. He then returned to the University of Chicago to study astronomy at the Yerkes Observatory, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1921.

Career

In 1919, Edwin Hubble began working at the Mount Wilson Observatory near Pasadena, California. He stayed there until he passed away in 1953. Just before that, he was the first to use a very large telescope called the Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory.

During World War II, Hubble helped the United States Army by studying how to make bombs and rockets more effective. He created special tools to help with this work, including a fast camera to record how these weapons flew through the air.

Discoveries

Universe goes beyond the Milky Way galaxy

Edwin Hubble arrived at Mount Wilson Observatory in California in 1919, just as the huge 100-inch Hooker Telescope was finished. At that time, people thought the universe was just our Milky Way galaxy.

Using the Hooker Telescope, Hubble studied special stars called Cepheid variables. By comparing how bright they looked to how bright they really are, he could tell how far away they were. Hubble found these stars in places called nebulae, including the Andromeda Nebula and the Triangulum Nebula. In 1924, he proved these nebulae were actually whole galaxies far outside our Milky Way. This changed how scientists saw the universe.

Hubble also created a way to sort galaxies into different groups based on how they looked in pictures. This became known as the Hubble sequence.

Redshift increases with distance

Hubble looked at 24 galaxies and measured both their distances and how their lights were stretched, called redshift. He noticed that the farther away a galaxy was, the faster it seemed to be moving away. This became known as Hubble's law.

At the time, people weren't sure why the lights were stretched. Today we understand it is because the universe is expanding. Hubble's work helped show that the universe was much bigger and more complex than people thought before.

Personal life

Edwin Hubble married Grace Lillian Burke in 1924. Though raised in a Protestant Christian family, Hubble sometimes seemed unsure about his beliefs later in life.

In July 1949, Hubble had a health problem while on vacation in Colorado. His wife helped him, and he followed a special diet and adjusted his work. Sadly, he passed away in San Marino, California, in 1953. His wife did not share where he was buried, and there was no funeral. His papers, including letters and notes, are kept at the Huntington Library in San Marino.

Controversies

Some people have wondered if Edwin Hubble took credit for ideas that belonged to another scientist, Georges Lemaître. Lemaître wrote about ideas similar to Hubble’s in 1927, but in French. When his work was translated into English in 1931, some parts were left out. Some believed this was done so Hubble would get more recognition, but others thought Lemaître himself removed the parts because similar ideas had already been shared by Hubble in 1929.

Hubble also worked hard to have astronomy included in the Nobel Prize in Physics. At that time, the Nobel Prize in Physics did not include astronomy. Hubble wanted astronomers to be recognized for their work in astrophysics. Although he wasn’t successful during his lifetime, not long after he passed away, the Nobel Committee decided to include astronomical work for the physics prize.

Honors

Edwin Hubble received many awards for his important work. He was given the Newcomb Cleveland Prize in 1924, the Bruce Medal in 1938, the Franklin Medal in 1939, and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1940. He also received the Legion of Merit in 1946 for his work on ballistics research.

Hubble was recognized by being elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1927 and the American Philosophical Society in 1929. Several things were named after him, including an asteroid called 2069 Hubble, a crater on the Moon, and the famous Hubble Space Telescope. There is also a planetarium, a highway, and a middle school named in his honor.

In 2008, the United States Postal Service created a stamp to honor Hubble as part of a sheet called "American Scientists." The stamp highlights his big discoveries about the universe and how he showed that there are galaxies beyond our own Milky Way. Other scientists featured on the stamp include Gerty Cori, Linus Pauling, and John Bardeen.

In popular culture

A play called Creation's Birthday, written by a scientist named Hasan Padamsee, shares the story of Edwin Hubble's life.