Modern · United States
Edwin Hubble
1889-1953
Their story
Why Edwin Hubble matters
Hubble measured distant galaxies and found a relationship between distance and recession speed.
Edwin Hubble worked in United States during the Modern era. Science was becoming a team effort carried out in universities, hospitals, observatories, industry and large research laboratories.
Questions in astronomy often require connecting small local observations with events happening across enormous distances or spans of time. Edwin Hubble helped make that connection measurable and understandable.
Key discovery or invention
Evidence for galaxies beyond the Milky Way and an expanding universe.
Edwin Hubble's central contribution was evidence for galaxies beyond the Milky Way and an expanding universe.
The discovery turned observations of the sky or Earth into evidence about a much larger system. Measurements, maps, specimens or mathematical models made changes across distance and time easier to recognise.
Why it still matters: Today's observatories, satellites, field surveys and computer models continue to ask larger versions of the same questions. Edwin Hubble's work is one chapter in that continuing story rather than the final word.
The Hubble Space Telescope was named for him, although he died long before it launched.