Editing Edwin Hubble (section)

{{short description|American astronomer (1889–1953)}}
{{about|the astronomer|the politician|Edwin N. Hubbell|the jazz trombonist|Eddie Hubble}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image              = Studio portrait photograph of Edwin Powell Hubble (cropped).JPG
| caption            = Portrait by [[Johan Hagemeyer]], 1931
| birth_name         = Edwin Powell Hubble
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1889|11|20|mf=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Marshfield, Missouri]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1953|09|28|1889|11|20|mf=y}}
| death_place        = [[San Marino, California]], U.S.
| spouse             = {{marriage|Grace Burke|February 26, 1924}}
| field              = [[Astronomy]]
| work_institutions  = {{Unbulleted list|[[University of Chicago]]|[[Mount Wilson Observatory]]|[[Carnegie Institution for Science]]|[[University of Cambridge]]}}
| alma_mater         = {{Unbulleted list|{{nowrap|[[University of Chicago]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])}}|[[The Queen's College, Oxford]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])}}
| known_for          = {{Unbulleted list|[[Hubble sequence]]|[[Hubble's law]]|[[Reflection nebula#Luminosity law|Hubble luminosity law]]|[[Hubble–Reynolds law]]}}
| prizes             = {{collapsible list|title={{nobold|''See list''}}|[[Newcomb Cleveland Prize]] (1924)|[[Barnard Medal for Meritorious Service to Science]] (1935)|[[Bruce Medal]] (1938)|[[Franklin Medal]] (1939)|[[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]] (1940)|[[Legion of Merit]] (1946)}}
| signature          = Edwin Hubble signature.svg
| footnotes          = 
| module             = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes
| allegiance         = <!-- United States -->
| branch             = [[United States Army]]
| branch_label       = Branch
| serviceyears       = 1918
| serviceyears_label = 
| rank               = [[Major (United States)|Major]]
| rank_label         = Rank
| servicenumber      = 
| unit               = [[86th Infantry Division (United States)|86th Division]], 2nd Battalion, 343rd Infantry Regiment
| commands           = 
| battles            = [[United States in World War I|World War I]]
}}
}}
{{Physical cosmology|scientists}}

'''Edwin Powell Hubble''' (November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953)<ref name="NASABio">{{cite web|title=Biography of Edwin Hubble (1889–1953) |url=http://hubble.nasa.gov/overview/hubble_bio.php |publisher=NASA |access-date=June 21, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110630015230/http://hubble.nasa.gov/overview/hubble_bio.php |archive-date=June 30, 2011}}</ref> was an American astronomer. He played a crucial role in establishing the fields of [[extragalactic astronomy]] and [[observational cosmology]].<ref name="space.com">{{cite web |last=Redd |first= Nola Taylor |title= Famous Astronomers {{!}} List of Great Scientists in Astronomy |url= https://www.space.com/16095-famous-astronomers.html |website= SPACE.com |publisher= Perch |access-date=April 6, 2018 |ref=space.com}}</ref><ref name="futurism">{{cite web|last1=Reese|first1=Riley|title=Most Influential Astronomers of All Time|url=https://futurism.media/most-influential-astronomers-of-all-time|website=Futurism|publisher=Jerrick Ventures LLC|access-date=April 6, 2018|ref=futurism}}</ref>

Hubble proved that many objects previously thought to be clouds of dust and gas and classified as "[[nebula]]e" were actually [[Galaxy|galaxies]] beyond the [[Milky Way]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hubble |first=Edwin |title=Extragalactic nebulae |journal=Astrophysical Journal |date=December 1926 |issue=64 |pages=321–369 |doi=10.1086/143018 |bibcode = 1926ApJ....64..321H |volume=64|doi-access=free }}</ref> He used the strong direct [[period-luminosity relation|relationship]] between a [[classical Cepheid variable]]'s [[luminosity]] and [[periodic function|pulsation period]]<ref name=udalski99>{{cite journal |arxiv=astro-ph/9908317 |bibcode=1999AcA....49..223U |title=The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. Cepheids in the Magellanic Clouds. IV. Catalog of Cepheids from the Large Magellanic Cloud |author1=Udalski, A. |author2=Soszynski, I. |author3=Szymanski, M. |author4=Kubiak, M. |author5=Pietrzynski, G. |author6=Wozniak, P. |author7=Zebrun, K. |volume=49 |date=1999 |pages=223–317 |journal=Acta Astronomica}}</ref><ref name=sos08>{{cite journal |arxiv=0808.2210 |bibcode=2008AcA....58..163S |title=The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. The OGLE-III Catalog of Variable Stars. I. Classical Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud |author1=Soszynski, I. |author2=Poleski, R. |author3=Udalski, A. |author4=Szymanski, M. K. |author5=Kubiak, M. |author6=Pietrzynski, G. |author7=Wyrzykowski, L. |author8=Szewczyk, O. |author9=Ulaczyk, K. |volume=58 |date=2008 |pages=163 |journal=Acta Astronomica  }}</ref> (discovered in 1908 by [[Henrietta Swan Leavitt]]<ref name="Henrietta">{{cite journal |bibcode=1907AnHar..60...87L |title=1777 variables in the Magellanic Clouds |author1=Leavitt, Henrietta S. |volume=60 |date=1908 |pages=87 |journal=Annals of Harvard College Observatory}}</ref>) for scaling [[cosmic distance ladder|galactic and extragalactic distances]].<ref name=freedman2001>{{cite journal |arxiv=astro-ph/0012376 |bibcode=2001ApJ...553...47F |doi=10.1086/320638 |title=Final Results from the ''Hubble Space Telescope'' Key Project to Measure the Hubble Constant |date=2001 |last1=Freedman |first1=Wendy L. |last2=Madore |first2=Barry F. |last3=Gibson |first3=Brad K. |last4=Ferrarese |first4=Laura |last5=Kelson |first5=Daniel D. |last6=Sakai |first6=Shoko |last7=Mould |first7=Jeremy R. |last8=Kennicutt, Jr. |first8=Robert C. |last9=Ford |first9=Holland C. |last10=Graham |first10=John A. |last11=Huchra |first11=John P. |last12=Hughes |first12=Shaun M. G. |last13=Illingworth |first13=Garth D. |last14=Macri |first14=Lucas M. |last15=Stetson |first15=Peter B. |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=553 |issue=1 |pages=47–72|s2cid=119097691 }}</ref><ref name=freedman2010>{{cite journal |arxiv=1004.1856 |bibcode=2010ARA&A..48..673F |title=The Hubble Constant |author1=Freedman, Wendy L. |author2=Madore, Barry F. |volume=48 |date=2010 |pages=673–710 |journal=Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics |doi=10.1146/annurev-astro-082708-101829|s2cid=119263173 }}</ref>

Hubble confirmed in 1929 that the [[recessional velocity]] of a galaxy increases with its distance from Earth, a behavior that became known as [[Hubble's law]], although it had been proposed two years earlier by [[Georges Lemaître]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.space.com/13616-universe-expansion-discovery-hubble-lemaitre-mystery.html| title = Astronomer Sleuth Solves Mystery of Big Cosmos Discovery by Nola Taylor Redd, ''Space.com'', November 14, 2011  | website = [[Space.com]] | date = November 14, 2011 }}</ref> The Hubble law implies that the universe is expanding.<ref name="Hubbles Law">{{cite journal |last=Hubble |first=Edwin |date=1929 |title=A relation between distance and radial velocity among extra-galactic nebulae |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=168–173 |doi=10.1073/pnas.15.3.168 |pmid=16577160 |pmc=522427 |bibcode=1929PNAS...15..168H|doi-access=free }}</ref> A decade before, the American astronomer [[Vesto Slipher]] had provided the first evidence that the light from many of these nebulae was strongly red-shifted, indicative of high recession velocities.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Slipher | first=V. M. | title=Nebulæ | journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society | publisher=American Philosophical Society | volume=56 | issue=5 | year=1917 | issn=0003-049X | jstor=984028 | pages=403–409 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/984028 | access-date=July 9, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Segal |first=I. E. |date=December 1993 |title=Geometric derivation of the chronometric redshift |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA |volume=90 |issue=23 |pages=11114–11116 |bibcode=1993PNAS...9011114S |doi=10.1073/pnas.90.23.11114 |pmc=47932 |pmid=11607440 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Hubble's name is most widely recognized for the [[Hubble Space Telescope]], which was named in his honor, with a model prominently displayed in his hometown of [[Marshfield, Missouri]].