Here are some facts about Edwin Hubble.
- Edwin Hubble was an American astronomer who devised several theories about the universe. He is regarded as one of the most important astronomers of the 20th century.
- Hubble was born in Missouri in 1889 and at school was good at sports and running. He later attended the University of Chicago and studied astronomy and mathematics.
- Hubble fought in World War I in the US Army.
- Before war broke out, he coached basketball at school, broke the school’s high jump record and taught Spanish and physics.
- He was given his first telescope at age 8 and became interested in astronomy.
- In 1919 he took a job at the Mount Wilson observatory in California, and worked there for the rest of his life.
- Hubble helped to prove that other galaxies existed in addition to the Milky Way. He also determined that the universe is enormous and is expanding.
- Hubble also helped to prove that all galaxies must have come from a single central point. This idea helped to make the so-called Big Bang Theory more popular, explaining the universe’s creation.
- Edwin Hubble helped to devise a system for classifying galaxies, which became known as the Hubble system. The galaxies were sorted based on their appearance and patterns.
- The Hubble Space Telescope was named after Edwin Hubble in 1990. The powerful telescope has helped to measure distances to stars more accurately, and to compute how many so-called black holes might exist.
- Edwin Hubble died in 1953 following a heart attack a few years earlier. A funeral was never held for him and his wife never told anyone where he was buried.
- Hubble also has an asteroid and a crater on the moon named after him.
- He featured on a 2008 US postage stamp and has a stretch of road named for him in his home state of Missouri.
