Object Details
- Artist
- Unidentified Artist
- Sitter
- Edwin Powell Hubble, 20 Nov 1889 - 28 Sep 1953
- Exhibition Label
- Born Marshfield, Missouri
- The famed Hubble space telescope takes its name from one of the great astronomers of the twentieth century. Edwin Hubble trained to become a lawyer but chose to pursue a career in astronomy instead. In 1919, he accepted a position at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, where his groundbreaking study revealed that certain types of nebulae were distinct galaxies beyond the Milky Way—not merely gaseous clouds within it. His subsequent research, in collaboration with astronomer Milton Humason, concluded that these galaxies were “moving away from each other at a rate constant to the distance between them.” This important discovery—known as Hubble’s law—supported the big bang theory of an expanding universe. In 1949, Hubble launched a project at California’s Palomar Observatory to complete the first comprehensive photographic survey of the northern sky. In this photograph, he looks through the eyepiece of the observatory’s state-of-the-art telescope.
- Nacido en Marshfield, Misuri
- El famoso telescopio espacial Hubble lleva el nombre de uno de los grandes astrónomos del siglo XX. Edwin Hubble estudió derecho, pero optó por proseguir una carrera en astronomía. En 1919 aceptó un puesto en el Observatorio del Monte Wilson, California, donde sus investigaciones pioneras revelaron que ciertos tipos de nebulosas eran otras galaxias, ajenas a la Vía Láctea, y no meras nubes gaseosas. Su estudio subsiguiente, en colaboración con el astrónomo Milton Humason, concluyó que estas galaxias se “alejan unas de otras a velocidad constante y, proporcional a la distancia entre ellas”. Este importante descubrimiento, conocido como la ley de Hubble, sirvió para afianzar la teoría del big bang, es decir, que el universo está en expansión. En 1949, en el Observatorio Palomar de California, Hubble inició el primer estudio fotográfico extenso del hemisferio celeste norte. En esta foto Hubble mira por el ocular del flamante telescopio del observatorio.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquired through the generosity of Laura Peebles and Ellen Fingerman
- 1949
- Object number
- NPG.2016.20
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Photograph
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image: 24.7 × 19.8 cm (9 3/4 × 7 13/16")
- Sheet: 25.4 × 20.6 cm (10 × 8 1/8")
- Place
- United States\California\San Diego\mountains\Palomar Mountain
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Interior
- Equipment\Optical Devices\Telescope
- Edwin Powell Hubble: Male
- Edwin Powell Hubble: Science and Technology\Scientist
- Edwin Powell Hubble: Science and Technology\Scientist\Astronomer
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.2016.20
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm406a8a61e-b759-4fde-9597-4156f0356fc5
