Hubble, Edwin Powell (1889–1953)
American astronomer whose observations proved that galaxies
are "island universes," not nebulae inside our own galaxy. His greatest
discovery was the linear relationship between a galaxy's distance and the
speed with which it is moving, now known as the Hubble
law. Upon graduation from the University of Chicago, Hubble won a Rhodes
scholarship and earned a law degree at Oxford University. After obtaining
his doctorate he spent his career, aside from army service in both world
wars, at Mount Wilson Observatory. In
1923 to 1925 he identified Cepheid
variables in the "nebulae" NGC 6822, M31
(the Andromeda Galaxy), and M33
(the Triangulum Galaxy) and proved conclusively that they are outside the
Galaxy. His investigation of these and similar objects, which he called
extragalactic nebulae and which astronomers today call galaxies, led to
his now-standard classification
system of elliptical, spiral, and irregular galaxies, and to the proof
that they are distributed uniformly out to great distances. Hubble measured
distances to galaxies and, with Milton Humason,
extended Vesto Slipher's measurements of
their redshifts. In 1929 he published the
velocity-time relation which, taken as evidence of an expanding universe,
is the basis of modern cosmology; the constant in this relation is called
the Hubble constant. The Hubble
Space Telescope is also named in his honor.
Adapted
in part from the biographical
entry at The Bruce Medalists website
Related
category
• ASTRONOMERS
AND ASTROPHYSICISTS
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