Astronomy glossary
What is Edwin Hubble?
Edwin Hubble — Edwin Hubble was born in Marshfield, Missouri on November 20, 1889. He studied at the University of Chicago and at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. His interests turned to astronomy around 1914, but he delayed his entry into the field to enlist in the U.S. Army in 1917. He served in France during World War I and returned to the United States to begin work at Mount Wilson Observatory. There, he…
Edwin Hubble was born in Marshfield, Missouri on November 20, 1889. He studied at the University of Chicago and at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. His interests turned to astronomy around 1914, but he delayed his entry into the field to enlist in the U.S. Army in 1917. He served in France during World War I and returned to the United States to begin work at Mount Wilson Observatory. There, he determined that other galaxies existed and were moving away from the Milky Way, proving that the universe was still expanding. He also discovered Cepheid variable stars in the Andromeda Galaxy as well as other galaxies. By comparing these variable stars to stars in the Milky Way, Hubble was able to determine that Cepheids were far beyond the boundaries of our galaxy. It was these compelling discoveries that proved the universe was far greater than imagined.