The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was named in honor of the American astronomer, Edwin Hubble (1889-1953).
Hubble earned a B.S. degree in astronomy and mathematics at the University of Chicago in 1910. It is reported that his father wanted him to become a lawyer rather than a scientist. Hubble earned a Rhodes scholarship to study law at Queen’s College, Oxford, England. He returned to the United States and passed the bar exam in 1913. After practicing law for a year he returned to the University of Chicago and earned a Ph. D. in astronomy in 1917.
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In 1916 Albert Einstein published his famous general theory of relativity and its equations that showed space was curved by gravity. His original equations led to the possibilities that space could expand or contract. Einstein believed that was not happening in the “real” world and so he added a constant to his original equations that caused his model to show that our Universe was static or immobile.
In 1924, Hubble, using the Hooker 100-inch telescope on Mount Wilson, demonstrated that the Andromeda Nebula was not a cloud of gas in our Milky Way galaxy but a separate galaxy far, far away. There were heated debates because this was in sharp contrast to the views of the astronomy establishment of that time. Hubble prevailed and it led to a huge change in our understanding of our Universe.
By the end of the 1920s Hubble and Milton Humason, using their observations along with the work of others established that the farther away a galaxy was the faster it was receding away. This turned out to be the first observational support for the theory of the expanding Universe and of the Big Bang. This was in conflict with Albert Einstein’s equations published in 1916 that held that the Universe was static. After studying Hubble’s work Einstein explained that his original equations allowed the Universe to expand but he believed that was not possible so he added a constant to his equations to hold the Universe static. Einstein said that introducing that constant was the biggest blunder of his life.
While all the Universe changing observations were taking place in the 1920s with the 100-inch Hooker telescope, the visionary George Ellery Hale started planning for a much larger telescope. In 1928 Hale applied for and received funding from the Rockefeller Foundation to build a 200-inch telescope.
The work to create the 200-inch mirror began in 1934. They discovered it could not be made of the type of glass used in previous telescopes. The project fell to the Corning Glass Works and they were able to make it out of a new type of glass, Pyrex, and they completed the 14.5-ton blank in 1936. The mirror with its original rough surface was then transported by train from New York to Pasadena where the grinding and polishing would take place. Major components of the observatory were constructed at sites all over the U.S. and then transported to Mount Palomar. Some parts were so huge that they had to be sent by ship through the Panama Canal. The project came to a complete halt on December 7, 1941 – World War II. The engineers, scientists, and their laboratories were reassigned to war-related projects. The Palomar project came to life again in September 1945. In November 1947 the finished mirror was transported from Pasadena to Mount Palomar. The trip up the mile high narrow winding mountain road is a tale in itself.
It took 21 years but in 1949 Edwin Hubble was honored by being the first person to use the new 200-inch Hale telescope on Mount Palomar. For many years Mount Palomar was the biggest and most dominate telescope in the world. For quite some time it was also known as the “Big Eye” or the “Giant Eye.”
Next week’s column will be about the James Webb Telescope, the one to follow the Hubble Space Telescope, nothing will ever “replace” the HST.
Clear skies.
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