A scientist known for his enormous ego, Edwin Hubble (1889–1953) was widely loathed and resented by his colleagues. But his discoveries and undeniable genius changed our fundamental understanding of outer space by proving that the universe was far larger than previously imagined—and growing at an unimaginable speed.
Indeed, Hubble’s work paved the way for the big bang theory, the most widely accepted theory of the beginning of the universe. His legacy can even be felt in popular culture: It was Hubble, after all, who proved that there were galaxies a long time ago and far, far away.
Hubble was born in Missouri, where he was a state champion athlete in high school, and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1910. He attended Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and affected a British accent for the rest of his life, to the annoyance of his colleagues.
After serving briefly in the US Army in World War I, Hubble was hired at Mount Wilson Observatory near Los Angeles. The observatory had what was then the world’s largest telescope, which allowed Hubble up-close looks at mysterious objects known as nebulae.
Most astronomers and physicists in 1919 believed that the Milky Way was the only galaxy in the universe and that nebulae were clouds of gas within the Milky Way. But Hubble proved that the nebulae were, in fact, entire galaxies millions of light-years from ours. By measuring the “red shift” of the galaxies, Hubble also discovered that they were rapidly moving away from Earth, meaning that the universe as a whole was expanding at an ever-increasing rate.
The discovery of a massive universe beyond our galaxy made Hubble a celebrity, and he was feted by such Hollywood stars as Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977). Hubble was featured on the cover of Time magazine and hailed by Albert Einstein (1879–1955), who admitted that Hubble had proved him wrong. (Einstein later called his earlier belief in a static universe “the greatest blunder of my life.”)
Hubble returned to military service during World War II, heading a ballistics unit in Maryland that improved bazookas and other weapons. After the war, however, Hubble’s health declined. He died at age sixty-three.
ADDITIONAL FACTS
- When Hubble was a college student, a promoter in Chicago attempted to recruit him to fight the world heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson (1878–1946). Wisely, Hubble declined.
- The Hubble home in San Marino, California, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
- The Hubble Space Telescope, a satellite named in Hubble’s honor, was launched by NASA in 1990 and has produced some of the most detailed color pictures of the universe ever taken. It is due to be decommissioned in roughly 2013.
