Edwin Hubble
American astronomer (1889–1953) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953)[1] was an American astronomer. He played a crucial role in establishing the fields of extragalactic astronomy and observational cosmology.[2][3]
Edwin Hubble | |
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Born | Edwin Powell Hubble (1889-11-20)November 20, 1889 Marshfield, Missouri, U.S. |
Died | September 28, 1953(1953-09-28) (aged 63) San Marino, California, U.S. |
Alma mater | |
Known for | |
Spouse |
Grace Burke Sr. (m. 1924) |
Awards | See list
|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astronomy |
Institutions | |
Military career | |
Branch | United States Army |
Years of service | 1918 |
Rank | Major |
Unit | 86th Division, 2nd Battalion, 343 Infantry Regiment |
Battles/wars | World War I |
Signature | |
Hubble proved that many objects previously thought to be clouds of dust and gas and classified as "nebulae" were actually galaxies beyond the Milky Way.[4] He used the strong direct relationship between a classical Cepheid variable's luminosity and pulsation period[5][6] (discovered in 1908 by Henrietta Swan Leavitt[7]) for scaling galactic and extragalactic distances.[8][9]
Hubble provided evidence that the recessional velocity of a galaxy increases with its distance from Earth, a property now known as Hubble's law, although it had been proposed two years earlier by Georges Lemaître.[10] The Hubble law implies that the universe is expanding.[11] A decade before, the American astronomer Vesto Slipher had provided the first evidence that the light from many of these nebulae was strongly red-shifted, indicative of high recession velocities.[12][13]
Hubble's name is most widely recognized for the Hubble Space Telescope, which was named in his honor, with a model prominently displayed in his hometown of Marshfield, Missouri.