Hubble, Edwin Powell

Hubble was the founder of modern extragalactic astronomy and the first to provide observational evidence for the expansion of the universe. The son of John Powell Hubble, a lawyer, and the former Virginia Lee James, he spent his early years in Kentucky and attended high school in Chicago, where his father was in the insurance business. At school he excelled both in his studies and in athletics. He won a scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he came under the influence of the eminent physicist R. A. Millikan and of the astronomer G. E. Hale, who inspired in him a love of astronomy. Hubble received a B.S. in mathematics and astronomy and also made his mark on the campus as a heavyweight boxer (he wassix feet, two inches tall). A sports promoter wanted to train him to fight Jack Johnson, the world champion, but instead Hubble went to Queen’s College, Oxford, in 1910 as a Rhodes scholar from Illinois.

At Oxford, Hubble first thought of reading mathematics; but after studying some of the final examination papers, he concluded that they were too specialized for his liking and instead decided to read jurisprudence. He took his B.A. in that subject in 1912. Hubble had a great love of England and was interested in the common law of the country from which his ancestors had emigrated in the seventeenth century. While at Oxford he was awarded a blue for track events and boxed in an exhibition match with the French champion, Georges Carpentier.

In 1913 Hubble