Edwin Hubble
Edwin Hubble
November 20,1889-September 28,1953
Marshfield,Missouri
Brief Biology:Edwin Hubble for telescope named one of the leading astronomy of the twentieth century.His discovery in the 1920's that countless galaxies exist beyond our own Milky Way galaxy revolutionized our understanding of the universe and our place within it.Hubble a tall and athetic man who excelled at sports and even coached High School basketball for a short while started his professional science career during one of the most exciting reas of astronomy.
Life:Edwin Hubble is known for revolutionizing our view of the universe. Before Hubble everyone believed that the universe was composed of one vast island of stars the Milky Way. Everything that we saw was within it. However Edwin Hubble was able to show that what people thought were spiral nebulae were actually other islands of stars that lay far beyond the breadth of our own galaxy.
Besides this Hubble was able to use the technique he had employed to prove the existence of galaxies to show that the entire universe was expanding.In 1923, Edwin Hubble showed that the spiral nebulae that were presumed to be within our galaxy the Milky Way were actually other galaxies that lay far beyond our. The following year he showed that the Milky Way was just one of many galaxies in the universe.To prove that an object was actually a galaxy they had to measure its distance. To accomplish this they used individually resolved Cepheid variable stars within M31. Cepheid variable stars are very useful in calculating distances to many nearby galaxies. This is because they vary their brightness in a very regular pattern and the duration of the variation is thought to be a direct indicator of their absolute magnitude true brightness. Then by measuring how bright the star appears to be a simple formula can be used to determine the distance assuming you know the absolute magnitude.In the 1930's, Hubble made a mistake in claiming that the galaxies are evenly distributed in space. To prove his point Hubble took a large number of photographs of small regions of the sky. And, except for an area around the Milky Way which he called a zone of avoidance he found galaxies in roughly equal numbers everywhere. Unfortunately for Hubble other scientists disagreed and were able to prove their point.
Harlow Shapely and Adelaide Ames took large pictures of the Northern Hemispheres sky. They noted large discrepancies in the concentration of galaxies. Clyde Tombaugh who had discovered Pluto in 1930, confirmed their conclusions and in 1937 discovered that galaxies are arranged in clusters and superclusters.
Despite his one large mistake Hubble made huge contributions to the field of astronomy and to honor Hubble NASA named the Hubble Space Telescope after him in 1989.
Besides this Hubble was able to use the technique he had employed to prove the existence of galaxies to show that the entire universe was expanding.In 1923, Edwin Hubble showed that the spiral nebulae that were presumed to be within our galaxy the Milky Way were actually other galaxies that lay far beyond our. The following year he showed that the Milky Way was just one of many galaxies in the universe.To prove that an object was actually a galaxy they had to measure its distance. To accomplish this they used individually resolved Cepheid variable stars within M31. Cepheid variable stars are very useful in calculating distances to many nearby galaxies. This is because they vary their brightness in a very regular pattern and the duration of the variation is thought to be a direct indicator of their absolute magnitude true brightness. Then by measuring how bright the star appears to be a simple formula can be used to determine the distance assuming you know the absolute magnitude.In the 1930's, Hubble made a mistake in claiming that the galaxies are evenly distributed in space. To prove his point Hubble took a large number of photographs of small regions of the sky. And, except for an area around the Milky Way which he called a zone of avoidance he found galaxies in roughly equal numbers everywhere. Unfortunately for Hubble other scientists disagreed and were able to prove their point.
Harlow Shapely and Adelaide Ames took large pictures of the Northern Hemispheres sky. They noted large discrepancies in the concentration of galaxies. Clyde Tombaugh who had discovered Pluto in 1930, confirmed their conclusions and in 1937 discovered that galaxies are arranged in clusters and superclusters.
Despite his one large mistake Hubble made huge contributions to the field of astronomy and to honor Hubble NASA named the Hubble Space Telescope after him in 1989.
Education:He went to Wheaton High School.His father had a office in chicago.He had a talent an interest for athletics,football.Edwin Hubble was awarded a half fees scholarship to the University of Chicago.He studied Physics astronomy and math. Edwin was awareded his B.S. degree in 1910.Then he was givin another Scholarship to study law at Queens,Oxford.He later became an attorney at louisville,Kentucky.Years after he decided Astronomy was for him and he re-entered Uniersity of Chicago to study doctorate.Where he earned his Phid in 1917 almost immediately after completing the oral defence his dissertation went to fight his first World War.
Career:Edwin Hubble was awarded the 1939 Franklin Medal in Physics for his extensive study of the nebulae particularly those outside our galaxy as a result of which the dimensions of observed space have been greatly increased.
Other awards and honors bestowed on Hubble include
The 1938 Catherine Wolfe Bruce gold medal awarded yearly by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for outstanding lifetime contributions to astronomy
The 1940 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
A 1946 Medal of Merit for outstanding contribution to ballistics research, more specifically for exceptional conduct in providing outstanding services to citizens during World War II
1948 election as an Honorary Fellow of Queens College Oxford for notable contributions to astronomy
Asteroid 2069 Hubble discovered by Indiana University astronomers in 1955, is named for Edwin Powell Hubble as is the Hubble crater on the Moon and the Hubble Space Telescope.
In the latter part of his career Hubble campaigned heartily for astronomy to be considered an area of physics rather than its own discipline. This was primarily so that he and fellow astronomers could be recognized by the Nobel Prize Committee for contributions to astrophysics. Even though Hubble was unsucessful for many years the Committee eventually decided that work in the field of astronomy could be eligible for the Nobel Prize in physics. However the decision came too late for Hubble it was made a few months after his death in 1953. The Nobel Prize has never been awarded posthumously.
Other awards and honors bestowed on Hubble include
The 1938 Catherine Wolfe Bruce gold medal awarded yearly by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for outstanding lifetime contributions to astronomy
The 1940 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
A 1946 Medal of Merit for outstanding contribution to ballistics research, more specifically for exceptional conduct in providing outstanding services to citizens during World War II
1948 election as an Honorary Fellow of Queens College Oxford for notable contributions to astronomy
Asteroid 2069 Hubble discovered by Indiana University astronomers in 1955, is named for Edwin Powell Hubble as is the Hubble crater on the Moon and the Hubble Space Telescope.
In the latter part of his career Hubble campaigned heartily for astronomy to be considered an area of physics rather than its own discipline. This was primarily so that he and fellow astronomers could be recognized by the Nobel Prize Committee for contributions to astrophysics. Even though Hubble was unsucessful for many years the Committee eventually decided that work in the field of astronomy could be eligible for the Nobel Prize in physics. However the decision came too late for Hubble it was made a few months after his death in 1953. The Nobel Prize has never been awarded posthumously.
FunFacts:At a young age Edwin had an uncanny intellect and a great liking for books especially novels by Jules Verne and H Rider Haggard. He was especially impressed by King Solomons Mines. Right from childhood Hubble had a peculiar interest in astronomy. Young Edwin corresponded with his grandfather who once wrote to his 12year old grandson for questions about Mars. Edwins reply astonished him. His grandfather was so pleased that he had it printed in a Springfield Newspaper He was probably more recognized for his athletic than academic ability. At Wheaton High School he excelled both as a student and as an athlete for he actively participated in athletics and sports His favorite sport at school was football. He excelled in basketball and track events in Chicago. Although he was very famous for breaking the Illinois State high jump record at High School he earned such an excellent reputation as a boxer that a sports promoter wanted him to train for a fight with Jack Johnson the then world heavyweight champion. However, he planned to enter the profession of law when he was selected as Rhodes Scholar and the reason to shift his academic focus was the promise made to his dying father that he would definitely study law.His time at Oxford greatly changed Hubbles entire personality he developed a love for tweed jackets Dunhill pipes sundry British pronunciations and eruptions of bah Jove all of which stayed with him for the rest of his life.He also took a position as a high school Spanish teacher in New Albany Indiana. According to Hubbles biographer Gale Christianson though Hubble was very popular with students especially with girls, who were evidently charmed and fascinated by his sound British diction and Oxford mannerisms Hubble longed to return to science. Hubble did creditably in his job but felt sick at heart because of his love for astronomy. His interest in astronomy however remained with him and he had determined to chuck law for astronomy.Against his better judgment Einstein had argued his elegant equations with an extra factor he called the cosmological constant a sort of antigravity force that kept the universe from collapsing in on it. But suddenly the cosmological constant was unnecessary. Einstein’s instincts had been right after all. Einsteins great blunder had been to doubt himself but Hubbles discovery had repaired what Einstein referred to as the greatest blunder of my life. During a visit to Caltech, the great and grateful physicist traveled to the top of Mount Wilson to see the telescope and thank Hubble personally for delivering him from his folly.Hubble needed to be one up on everyone else so he hungered for more knowledge. He once chafed when an old adversary Adriaan Van Maneen was slated to sit at the head of the dining table on Mount Wilson. It was his due as the astronomer using the Hooker telescope that night Hubble strode into the hall early and swapped napkin rings leaving his own in the prime spot. Van Maneen visibly perplexed took the lesser seat without any protest. Hubbles another trick was to memorize obscure facts from the Encyclopaedia Britannica and then deftly steer the conversation to that very topic. After his companions showed their ignorance he would impress them with his expertise and casually reach for the Britannica for verification.
No comments:
Post a Comment