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Edwin Hubble Facts & Worksheets

Edwin Hubble was an American astronomer most noted for his crucial role in the establishment of observational cosmology and extragalactic astronomy.

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Edwin Hubble was an American astronomer most noted for his crucial role in the establishment of observational cosmology and extragalactic astronomy. He is one of the most famous astronomers of all time.

See the fact file below for more information on the Edwin Hubble or alternatively, you can download our 26-page Edwin Hubble worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE

  • Edwin Powell Hubble was born in Marshfield, Missouri, on November 20, 1889. He was the third of eight children to John Hubble and Virginia Lee James. His father had a degree in law and was an insurance salesman.
  • Edwin’s fascination with astronomy began at the age of 7 when his grandfather showed him one of his telescopes. Instead of having his 8th birthday party, he asked to stay up all night studying the heavens through his grandfather’s telescope.
  • Hubble studied at Wheaton High School and, even though he did sports more than studying, his grades ranged from 95-100.
  • In 1906, he graduated and received a scholarship to the University of Chicago. He continued to spend more time on sports and set a state record for high jump on May 6, 1906.
  • In 1910, Hubble received a Bachelor of Science degree with credits in the sciences, including astronomy and physics.
  • With a Rhodes scholarship, he spent the next three years at the University of Oxford. Despite his interest in and enthusiasm for science, he studied Jurisprudence in accord with his father’s request.
  • In 1912, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and spent another year learning Spanish.
  • When he learned that his father was dying, he asked to leave Oxford to see him, but his father told him to keep working instead. His father died the next year.

CAREER AND CONTRIBUTIONS

  • In 1913, Hubble returned to the USA. He taught Spanish and Physics at New Albany High School in Indiana. He also did commercial German translation and coached the school’s basketball team.
  • After teaching for a year, he reached out to Forest Ray Moulton asking about graduate work. Moulton, an astronomy professor at the University of Chicago, referred Hubble to Edwin Frost, the head of the university’s Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin.
  • At 24, Hubble was finally able to study the field that had fascinated him since he was a child and, in 1917, he received his PhD in astronomy with his dissertation Photographic Investigations of Faint Nebulae.
  • Hubble volunteered for the United States Army during the war with Germany, where he was eventually given the rank of lieutenant colonel. After the war, he stayed in Cambridge doing research on astronomy.
  • In 1919, he began working at the Mount Wilson Observatory at the Carnegie Institute for Sciences.
  • He initially studied the reflection of nebulae in the Milky Way. In 1923, he found Cepheid fluctuations in the Andromeda Nebula. Using the relationship between the variations and its luminosity, Hubble was able to determine the approximate distance of the nebula.
  • During that time, the largest estimated diameter of the Milky Way was around 300,000 light-years. However, his calculations estimated the Andromeda Nebula to be 900,000 light-years away, indicating that the nebulae may be a galaxy instead.
  • Hubble’s findings on the Andromeda and in other nearby spiral nebulae swiftly persuaded the majority of astronomers that there were many galaxies in the universe.
  • Hubble, with the help of Milton Humason, investigated external galaxies, or extragalactic nebulae as Hubble called them.
  • While Humason measured the spectral shifts of these galaxies, Hubble determined their distances.
  • In 1929, Hubble tentatively concluded in his paper that the redshifts of a galaxy’s spectra are directly proportional to the distance of that galaxy.
  • In 1931, Hubble and Humason presented evidence of the direct proportionality of redshift and distance.
  • In his book The Realm of the Nebulae (1936), he elaborated on his approaches to extragalactic astronomy and his opinion about the subject’s history. The methods and techniques he laid out were followed and accounted for by extragalactic astronomers for decades to come.

AWARDS

  • In 1924, he received the Newcomb Cleveland Prize.
  • He also received the Bruce Medal in 1938.
  • The Franklin Medal in physics was awarded to him in 1939.
  • He earned the American Association Prize and $500 from Burton E. Livingston of the Committee on Awards for his findings on nebulae.
  • Hubble also became a recipient of the Legion of Merit in 1946 for his contribution to ballistics research.

DEATH AND LEGACY

  • Due to his findings, Hubble was the exemplar in the establishment of extragalactic astronomy in the 1920s and 1930s.
  • He continued working at Mount Wilson, but after 1936, he published only a few original research studies.
  • While vacationing in Colorado, Hubble had a heart attack. His wife, Grace Lillian Burke, took care of him and gave him a modified diet and shorter work schedule.
  • On September 28, 1953, Hubble died in San Marino, California, due to cerebral thrombosis.
  • Grace Hubble did not hold a funeral for him and kept his burial place a secret. They had no children. Until now, the resting place of both Edwin and Grace is a secret.
  • On March 6, 2008, the United States Postal Service released a 41-cent stamp to honor Hubble’s contributions to astronomy.
  • A crater and asteroid were named after him. The Hubble telescope, a space telescope orbiting the earth, released by NASA is also named to honor Hubble.
  • A highway, planetarium, several institutions, university facilities, and schools in the United States also bear his name.
  • Marshfield, Missouri, his birthplace, annually awards the Edwin P. Hubble Medal of Initiative to astronomers of remarkable brilliance.
  • Besides his scientific work, Hubble spent more of his later life convincing the Nobel Prize Committee to make astronomy a branch of physics. Unfortunately, the Committee did so only after his death.

Edwin Hubble Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Edwin Hubble across 26 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Edwin Hubble worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Edwin Hubble who was an American astronomer most noted for his crucial role in the establishment of observational cosmology and extragalactic astronomy. He is one of the most famous astronomers of all time.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Edwin Hubble Facts
  • Pioneer of the Distant Stars
  • Hubble Time
  • Through the Telescope
  • Cosmological Words
  • Balloons of Rewards
  • Up with the Stars
  • In Hubble’s Name
  • Galactic Words
  • Over the Horizon
  • Foreseen Future

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Use With Any Curriculum

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