Edwin Hubble was an American astronomer whose impact on science has been compared to pioneering scientists such as English physicist Isaac Newton and Italian astronomer Galileo. Hubble helped to change our perception of the universe in two very important ways. In an era when the Milky Way was perceived as the extent of the entire universe, Hubble confirmed the existence of other galaxies through his observations from the Mount Wilson Observatory in Pasadena, California. Furthermore, with the help of other astronomers of his time, Hubble showed that this newly discovered universe was expanding and developed a mathematical concept to quantify this expansion now known as Hubble's law.

Edwin Powell Hubble was born on November 20, 1889, in Marshfield, Missouri, to John P. Hubble, an agent in a fire insurance firm, and Virginia Lee James Hubble, a descendant of the American colonist Miles Standish. The third of seven children, Hubble spent...