Welcome to Universum.luUniversum · The astronomy portal
UNIVERSUMSTEVE CIMOLINO · LES VIEUX LIVRES
Menu
The portal / Edwin Hubble · Great figures
Observer of the Universe beyond our galaxy

Edwin Hubble

1889–1953

Edwin Hubble supplied evidence that some nebulae are distant galaxies. His measurements of distances and recession speeds then helped establish the observational case for an expanding Universe.

← Back to all portraits
Edwin Hubble
Photograph of Edwin Hubble by Johan Hagemeyer, 1931.
Johan Hagemeyer · Public domain · Portrait source
Resized and converted to WebP for this site.

A life of research

Educated in Chicago and Oxford, he worked at Mount Wilson Observatory. Its large Hooker telescope allowed him to investigate faint objects in much greater detail than smaller instruments could provide.

He identified Cepheid variables in the Andromeda Nebula and used Leavitt's relationship to estimate their distances. Results announced in 1924 placed this system far beyond the boundaries of the Milky Way.

Understanding the contribution

In 1929 he presented a relationship between galaxy distance and recession velocity. The study depended on collective work, particularly spectral shifts measured by Vesto Slipher and observations by Milton Humason.

The relationship fitted a theoretical framework already developed by Georges Lemaître. It supported a dynamic picture of the cosmos: on large scales, distances between galaxies not gravitationally bound to each other increase with time.

What this work changed

Hubble helped change the scale of our map of the Universe and then our understanding of its history, building on instruments, methods and measurements developed by many others.

Sources and references