A Short Biography of the Astronomer Edwin Hubble

By Doug West

Edwin Hubble was a man ahead of his time. For him, only astronomy really mattered. He took advantage of the opportunity given to him to use the most advanced telescope of his time to determine the truth behind the most distant clouds of light visible to Earth-based observers. His major discoveries changed our knowledge of our place in the universe forever. His determination that the universe is expanding served as the foundation for the Big Bang Theory, which proposes that the entire universe started as an intense energy bust occurring at a single moment of time. He made observations and drew intelligent assumptions from it. In the process, he founded a new discipline that has now contributed much to our knowledge the forces and the nature of matter that make up the universe.
Hubble’s work offered evidence that changed humankind’s perception of the universe. He wanted to find something unexpected, and he did so admirably. The impact of his declaration that the galaxies are hurtling away from each other, and that the space between them is expanding as time goes by can be felt until now. The proponents of the Big Bang Theory used Hubble’s observations in setting down their basic assumptions. Modern astrophysicists theorize that as a consequence of this expansion, it is possible that at a certain point, this instability will lead to a reversal of the expansion and the universe itself will end in a Big Crunch. Another theory presents the possibility of an unending expansion that will also lead to the death of the universe due to cooling and distension.
In “A Brief History of Time,” Stephen Hawking, the preeminent British astrophysicist stated that Hubble’s discovery of the expanding universe was “one of the great intellectual revolutions of the 20th century.” As part of Edwin Hubble’s legacy, NASA honored this great astronomer by naming the first orbiting space telescope the “Hubble Space Telescope.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Doug West
• Release date: Jun 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311867018

Doug West

Doug West is a retired engineer, small business owner, and an experienced non-fiction writer with several books to his credit. His writing interests are general, with expertise in science, history, biographies, numismatics, and “How to” topics. Doug has a B.S. in Physics from the Missouri School of Science and Technology and a Ph.D. in General Engineering from Oklahoma State University. He lives with his wife and little dog “Millie” near Kansas City, Missouri.

Book preview

A Short Biography of the Astronomer Edwin Hubble

By Doug West, Ph.D.

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Smashwords Edition

A Short Biography of the Astronomer Edwin Hubble

Copyright © 2015 Doug West

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author. Reviewers may quote brief passages in reviews.

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Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Early Years

Chapter 2 - College Years

Chapter 3 - Graduate Work at Yerkes Observatory

Chapter 4 - World War I

Chapter 5 - At Mount Wilson Observatory

Chapter 6 - A Time to Marry

Chapter 7 - An Expanding Universe

Chapter 8 – The Big Bang

Chapter 9 – Latter Years

Chapter 10 - Hubble’s Scientific Legacy

Photo Credits

About the Author

Preface

Welcome to the book A Short Biography of the Astronomer Edwin Hubble. This book is part of the 30 Minute Book Series and as the name of the series implies, if you are an average reader this book will take around 30 minutes to read or a little longer to listen to it in audio format. Since this book is not meant to be an all-encompassing thick biography on Edwin Hubble, you may want to know more. To help you with this, there are several good references at the end of this book. Thank you for purchasing this book and I hope you enjoy your time with Edwin Hubble.

Doug West

June 2015

Introduction

Edwin Hubble was the most important figure in extragalactic astronomy in the 1920s and the 1930s. He made key observations in the facilities at Mount Wilson, and also at the Palomar Observatory’s 200-inch reflecting