![]() ![]() By charting the changes in these stars, Hubble discovered that the Cepheid variable stars in Andromeda were much further away than those in the Milky Way, leading him to believe the Andromeda Nebula was a galaxy in its own right. Hubble’s continued observations uncovered his first Cepheid variable star – a type of star used to measure distances in space by how its brightness changes. In 1923, Hubble discovered that there were individual stars in this nebula. ![]() But by using the telescope to observed these faint, fuzzy, cloud-like patches of light, Hubble’s observations now brought them into focus. When Hubble pointed the Hooker Telescope at the constellation Andromeda Nebula, this perspective shifted.įor centuries, the Andromeda Nebula had appeared as just an elongated cloud of light, dust and gas. Although astronomers had speculated about the existence of other galaxies in the universe, there was no observable evidence of them. He is credited with the discovery of galaxies outside the Milky WayĪt that time, the prevailing view of the cosmos was that the universe consisted entirely of the Milky Way Galaxy. In 1919, Hubble was offered a staff position at the observatory by its founder and director, George Ellery Hale. Hubble went on to use the telescope to make many of his most important observations, and remained on staff at Mount Wilson until his death in 1953. He was a key member of the Mount Wilson Observatory in CaliforniaĬompleted in 1917, the Mount Wilson Observatory’s 100-inch (2.5 metre) Hooker telescope was the world’s largest at the time (until 1949). Right: Wikimedia Commons / Ken Spencer / CC BY-SA 3.0. Bottom left: Wikimedia Commons / Craig Baker / CC BY-SA 4.0. Image Credit: Top left: American Expeditionary Forces / Public Domain. Hooker Telescope enclosure Right: 100 inch Hooker Telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles County, California. Top left: Edwin Hubble’s identity card in the American Expeditionary Forces of World War One. (During World War Two he served in an administrative capacity at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland.) Hubble served in the US Army in France as a member of the 86th Division, reaching the rank of major, yet the 86th Division never saw combat. He rushed through his dissertation, took a final oral exam and reported to the army for duty just three days later. Hubble had hoped to finish his doctoral dissertation on a photographic investigation of faint nebulae and take up a position at the Mount Wilson Observatory in the summer of 1917, yet by then America had entered World War One. Nevertheless, he longed to pursue a career in the sciences and later returned to the United States to obtain a PhD in astronomy from the University of Chicago in 1914 at the Yerkes Observatory. (The Rhodes scholarship is considered among the world’s most prestigious international scholarship programmes.) However, due to his father’s expectations, he went on to receive a scholarship to study at Queens College, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, where he earned a degree in jurisprudence, including reading Roman and English Law. This fascination of the world around him led to him studying for a degree in maths and astronomy at the University of Chicago in 1906. He was a Rhodes ScholarĮdwin Hubble was born on 20 November 1889 in Missouri, and was a keen sportsman as well as a fan of science fiction novels. Here are 10 facts about Edwin Hubble, one of the most important figures in the field of modern astronomy. Named in his honour, the Hubble Space Telescope launched in 1990 has similarly enhanced our knowledge and understanding of the universe, enabling astronomers and scientists to see glimpses into the cosmos that Hubble himself would have been in awe of. ![]() His meticulous studies of spiral nebulae proved the existence of galaxies other than our own Milky Way, and led to the realisation that the universe is expanding rather than static. Renowned 20th century astronomer Edwin Hubble’s groundbreaking discoveries fundamentally changed the scientific view of the universe and its origins.
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