His contribution to astronomy is astronomical!
In fact the only reason why he did not get a Nobel prize is that Astronomy was not part of physics and at the time there was no prize for astronomy!
In fact the telescope named after him has made so many contributions to the study of space!
Edwin’s contribution was immense!
In the early 1920s, humanity believed the Milky Way was the entire universe. Edwin dismantled this idea through two monumental breakthroughs!
The first was to prove the Existence of Other Galaxies! This he did By observing Cepheid variable stars in the Andromeda “nebula,” Edwin proved it was actually a distinct galaxy sitting hundreds of thousands of light-years outside our own. This established the field of extragalactic astronomy!
Then he discovered the Expansion of the Universe! In 1929, he formulated a law named after him! By observing that the light from distant galaxies shifts toward the red end of the spectrum (redshift), he proved that galaxies are moving away from us and that the universe is actively expanding. This provided the foundational observational proof for the Big Bang theory!
He created the “Tuning Fork” system to classify galaxies based on their shapes (elliptical, spiral, barred spiral)!
In spite of all this he did not get the Nobel because of a technicality!
Then again some legends do not need a prize to make them legendary!
Did you get the scientist’s name? You would have anwyay heard the name of his telescope or the scope named after him! Frankly that is the only telescope many would even know by name!
His full name was Edwin Powell Hubble!
Yes!
The very Hubble after whom the Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble) is named after!
The legend who could not get a Nobel though he deserved at least two! Another legend was Soorya Krishnamoorthy who promoted art and artists!
He will be missed…
Shub ratri…
