Edwin Hubble
Edwin Powell Hubble was born on the 20th of November 1889 in Marshfield, Missouri. His early years were defined by physical dominance rather than academic brilliance. He won seven first places and a third place in a single high school track and field meet during 1906. This young athlete played a variety of positions on the basketball court, ranging from center to shooting guard. He led the University of Chicago's basketball team to their first Big Ten Conference title in 1907. Despite his athletic prowess, he earned good grades in every subject except spelling. His father, John Powell Hubble, was an insurance executive who moved the family to Wheaton, Illinois, in 1900. The elder Hubble later relocated the family to Shelbyville, Kentucky, in 1909. Edwin returned home to care for his mother and siblings after his father died in the winter of 1913. He acquiesced to his dying father's request to study law instead of science. He spent three years at The Queen's College, Oxford, studying jurisprudence. Afterward, he taught Spanish, physics, and mathematics at New Albany High School in Indiana.
Hubble arrived at Mount Wilson Observatory, California, in 1919 just as the Hooker Telescope neared completion. That instrument was then the world's largest telescope available for observation. The prevailing view of the cosmos held that the universe consisted entirely of the Milky Way galaxy. Hubble identified Cepheid variables using this powerful new tool. These stars served as standard candles discovered by Henrietta Swan Leavitt. Comparing their apparent luminosity to their intrinsic luminosity gave astronomers a way to measure distance from Earth. His observations made in 1924 proved conclusively that nebulae like Andromeda were too distant to be part of our own galaxy. They were entire galaxies existing outside the Milky Way boundary. This finding directly opposed Harvard University-based astronomer Harlow Shapley. Shapley argued that these objects were merely clouds within our home galaxy. Hubble published his findings first in The New York Times on an unspecified date in 1924. He presented them formally to other astronomers at the 1st of January 1925 meeting of the American Astronomical Society. His results for the Andromeda galaxy did not appear in a peer-reviewed scientific journal until 1929. Despite some colleagues scoffing at his results, he persisted with publication. This work earned him the American Association Prize and five hundred dollars from Burton E. Livingston.
Hubble went on to estimate distances to 24 extra-galactic nebulae using various methods. In 1929, he examined the relationship between these distances and radial velocities determined from redshifts. All of his estimated distances are now known to be too small by up to a factor of about seven. Errors arose from factors such as confusing bright gas clouds with bright stars or misidentifying Cepheid variables. Yet his distances remained proportional to true distances when combined with measurements from Vesto Slipher. He also utilized data from his assistant Milton L. Humason regarding redshifts. They found a roughly linear relationship between galaxy distances and their radial velocities. This discovery later became known as Hubble's law. It meant that the greater the distance between any two galaxies, the greater their relative speed of separation. When interpreted this way, Hubble's measurements on 46 galaxies led to a value for the Hubble constant of 500 km/s/Mpc. This figure is much higher than currently accepted values due to errors in distance calibrations. Georges Lemaître had predicted the redshift-distance relation theoretically based on Einstein's equations two years prior. Albert Einstein visited Mount Wilson Observatory in 1931 and announced there that the visit had changed his mind.
After the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, Hubble rushed to complete his Ph.D. dissertation so he could join the military. He volunteered for the United States Army and was assigned to the newly created 86th Division. He rose to the rank of major and was found fit for overseas duty on the 9th of July 1918. The division moved overseas but never saw combat before being broken up. After World War I ended, Hubble spent a year at University of Cambridge renewing his astronomy studies. During World War II, he worked as a civilian for the United States Army at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. He served as Chief of the External Ballistics Branch of the Ballistic Research Laboratory. He directed a large volume of research in exterior ballistics which increased effective firepower. His work included personal development of equipment like the high-speed clock camera. This device made possible the study of characteristics of bombs and low-velocity projectiles in flight. Results from his studies improved the design and performance of bombs and rockets. For this contribution, he received the Legion of Merit award in 1946.
Hubble died of cerebral thrombosis on the 28th of September 1953, in San Marino, California. No funeral was held for him, and his wife never revealed his burial site. His papers comprising correspondence, photographs, notebooks, and observing logbooks are held by the Huntington Library in San Marino. They were donated by his wife Grace Burke Hubble upon her death in 1980. The Hubble Space Telescope bears his name prominently today. A model of the telescope stands in his hometown of Marshfield, Missouri. An Edwin P. Hubble Planetarium exists within Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, New York. The Edwin Hubble Highway stretches Interstate 44 through his birthplace. Hubble Middle School operates in Wheaton, Illinois, where he lived from age eleven onward. On the 6th of March 2008, the United States Postal Service released a 41-cent stamp honoring him. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1927. He received the Bruce Medal in 1938 and the Franklin Medal in 1939. The crater Hubble on the Moon also carries his name.
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Common questions
When and where was Edwin Hubble born?
Edwin Powell Hubble was born on the 20th of November 1889 in Marshfield, Missouri. His early years were defined by physical dominance rather than academic brilliance.
What major astronomical discovery did Edwin Hubble make in 1924?
His observations made in 1924 proved conclusively that nebulae like Andromeda were too distant to be part of our own galaxy. They were entire galaxies existing outside the Milky Way boundary.
How did Edwin Hubble determine the relationship between galaxy distances and velocities?
In 1929, he examined the relationship between these distances and radial velocities determined from redshifts. He found a roughly linear relationship between galaxy distances and their radial velocities using data from his assistant Milton L. Humason.
Why did Edwin Hubble join the military during World War I?
After the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, Hubble rushed to complete his Ph.D. dissertation so he could join the military. He volunteered for the United States Army and rose to the rank of major.
When and where did Edwin Hubble die?
Hubble died of cerebral thrombosis on the 28th of September 1953, in San Marino, California. No funeral was held for him, and his wife never revealed his burial site.