Edwin Hubble was an American astronomer who lived from November the 20th 1889 to September the 28th 1953.

Hubble made a huge impact on astronomy, and science in general, by demonstrating that other galaxies besides our own Milky Way existed. It was the previous belief of many that space was limited to the Milky Way galaxy, Hubble’s discoveries which were announced in 1925 changed our view of the universe.

In his early years Hubble was a skilled athlete as well as a bright student, competing and achieving highly in track and field.

At the University of Chicago, Hubble’s studies focused on mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy. He became a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University soon after and also became a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

Hubble discovered that the level of redshift in light coming from a galaxy increased in proportion to the distance as that galaxy moved further away from Earth. This is known as Hubble’s law and it helped prove that the universe is expanding. It even led Albert Einstein to admit that ignoring this idea and subsequently “fudging” his equations to avoid it was “the biggest blunder of his life”.

The well known Hubble Space Telescope is named after Edwin Hubble. It has provided valuable research data and images since it was carried into orbit in 1990, leading to many breakthroughs in the field of astrophysics. Hubble has also been honored with an asteroid and moon crater being named after him.

The United States Postal Service released a 41 cent stamp in 2008 featuring Hubble as part of a series on American scientists.