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Edwin Hubble: Mariner of the Nebulae

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If you ever wondered why the Hubble Telescope is called the Hubble Telescope, I have a book that has the answer for you. In an age where all you have to do to have a highway or bridge or named after you is get elected to some minor office (the "Eric Winkler Parkway" ???) and where all you have to do to be referred to as a "genius" is guide an NFL team to a winning record ("Tampa sure has turned around since Smith arrived to handle the coaching chores haven't they Dandy? Yes Frank, they sure have, Coach Smith is a genius"), it is sobering to meet true genius -- warts and all.

When I was in high school, I studied nothing but sciences - with a particular emphasis on Physics and Astronomy - As a child I dreamed of being an astronomer - I built my own telescope. But then fate intervened and I ended up studying English literature and becoming a music lawyer. But later in life, in my early forties, I returned to my first love via a series of general interest science books. One of those books was "Edwin Hubble, Mariner of the Nebulae".

This compelling, lovely book was written by Gale Christianson, the author of an equally engaging portrait of Isaac Newton. Christianson is a Professor of History and writes with a down to earth, straightforward style. He writes for the general reader and does not presume that you are grounded in science or astronomy. So do not fear - dragons be not here.

Hubble is easily one of the most important figures to have graced the 20th century - or for that matter all of history. If you think that is an overstatement, then factor this into your thinking. This one man is responsible, virtually single-handedly, for several of the most important discoveries of all time. It was with reference to a discovery of Hubble's that the famous Harlow Shapley remarked, "here is the [discovery] that has destroyed my universe".

1. It was Hubble who confirmed the existence of other nebulae, what are now called galaxies, outside of the "Milky Way". This seems trite now, but it was not at ALL obvious at the time. Having discovered a Cepheid variable in Andromeda he was able to measure the distance to that body of stars -- the results of his calculation (using the period/luminosity relationship (discovered by Henrietta Leavitt in 1912) that makes Cepheids the standard candles of the universe) proved beyond a doubt that Andromeda was much farther away athan any star in the Milky Way.

2. It was Hubble who proved that the universe was expanding (and worked out the famous "Hubble Constant")- an insight of incalculable significance that laid the cornerstone for the Big Bang theory.

3. It was Hubble who developed the system of classification for galaxies that is used to this day.

4. It was Hubble who brought forward evidence that the universe is homogenous - i.e., the same in all directions.

Incredibly, he never won the Nobel Prize - he died before they got around to recognising him.

But this is only part of the story. For Hubble was probably one of the most unlikeable men of all time. He was arrogant, unkind, a publicity hound, revoltingly condescending and patronising, and at times even dishonest. A considerable portion of the book is devoted to exploring his extraordinary "reinvention of himself". A polite way of saying that he made up stories about his past life to enhance his reputation - for example he claimed to have practised law.

Shinning out of the pages of this book, like one of his Cepheid Variables, is the story of his truly extraordinary wife Grace who put up with everything and was constant and faithful to a fault.

I guarantee that you will not be able to put this book down. You will be by turns elated, repulsed, amazed, disappointed, astounded and saddened. I very nearly wept during the achingly touching Epilogue. It is one of those special books that you will return to more than once.

One of the most remarkable astronomers of all time, and the one who generally gets the credit for the biggest revolution since Copernicus: Hubble was the one who recognized that the universe is expanding, and who first articulated the principle that bears his name, that of the expansion constant, the "Hubble" constant.

This outstanding work does a good job of tracing his early years, a task made difficult by the fact that his wife destroyed many of his personal papers after his death. Hubble was enigmatic, aloof, and possibly disingenuous. He shed his Missouri roots and donned the polished exterior of a Brit. He was a shameless anglophile to the end of his life.

He had a knack for asking the right questions at the right time, and being a talented enough observer to get the data needed to address those questions. (...)

Christianson's work is an honest treatment of a difficult and complex subject. She doesn't gloss over the rough spots or try to sugar coat his scientific accomplishments. This is thoroughly researched and well written work.

Gale Christianson's biography on Edwin Hubble is the story of possibly the greatest astronomer of our time. The book includes interesting nuances about Hubble's life as well as all of his discoveries in his work. It was obvious that the author had a great amount of respect for Hubble's discoveries as well as a lot of fascination over his life. The book is extremely informative, sharing all of the details of Hubble's life as well as those of the people important to Hubble. The book is quite recommendable both as a biography, and also as an astronomy book. It teaches a significant amount on the basic terms and ideas of astronomy as well as touching on some of the more advanced concepts. The book is a wonderful account of the life of a great astronomer and the history of astronomy.

The other reviews summarize well some of the key accomplishments of Edwin Hubble. But this biography leaves both the nature of those accomplishments and his personality a bit abstract.

Maybe this isn't the biographer's fault -- his subject was hardly a live wire. As Hubble's own wife remarked, in an inadvertently chilling quote near the book's end, other than smoking a pipe he had "no mannerisms" -- he never whistled, sang, drummed his fingers or gestured. He seems to have been something of a vain and self-centered guy, but his slights and injuries to other people seem to have been relatively mild and generally not malicious. (Pace another reviewer, we aren't told anything that could rank him as "one of the most unlikable men of all time;" he seems to have been no more, and maybe a bit less, of a jerk than many other vain, successful academics, and had many long-term friendships.) He exaggerated about his past experiences in law and the military, but these fibs seem not to have precipitated any crisis, much less catastrophe, in his life or caught up with him in any significant way. The main impression from the book is of a bland, pretentious Anglophile, Republican, with many of the racial prejudices of his day, who loved honors and attention and meeting famous people. His wife comes off as the same, though maybe slightly more prejudiced and pretentious (albeit once almost tempted to vote Democrat).

Maybe the most vivid thing we're told about Hubble is how late in life he became very attached to a cat, his first permanent pet. The biographer is quite generous in his attention to this cat, BTW. He's also generous in details of who were the Hubbles' friends in Hollywood, what plays those friends or the friends' friends starred in, etc.; if you'd like to know what Hubble's wife, and her friend Anita Loos, thought of Carol Channing (an actress of whom you've probably never heard if you were born after 1960), you've hit pay dirt. There are a few character sketches of scientists that could interesting if you've heard of them before, e.g. James Jeans and Arthur Eddington. (Einstein, OTOH, is inexplicably ridiculed by GC for his physical appearance, notwithstanding that he was regarded as handsome in his day, and was kind of a rake: he's called "diminutive" (@205) and "gnomish" (@365).)

What, then, made Hubble a genius? After reading this book, it's still a mystery to me. Although Hubble was famous for his studies of nebulae, there isn't even a single picture of one in the book. Hubble's work was intensely visual, and it might have been interesting to see some of the spectra or photographic plates that he used in his discoveries, but none are offered. Did Hubble's legal training during his time as a Rhodes Scholar have any role in his professional career, such as his style of writing scientific papers? No connections are drawn or even suggested. Some of the scientific controversies of the 1920s, e.g. about whether what we now call galaxies were within the Milky Way or beyond it, are explained well. But the strongest personalities in those dramas belonged to others, not Hubble. As for how "the greatest astronomer in 400 years" really ticked, one finishes the book knowing little.

It may be difficult to allocate blame for that between Hubble and his biographer. But the apparent shallowness of Hubble makes this pleasant-enough read feel like a disappointment by the end.

For my physics class I was required to read a biography on any scientist I wanted...and I choose to read about Edwin Hubble.

Before reading this book I had little knowledge of this great astronomer. While reading this book, I was generally impressed of the author's intense knowledge of Hubble's entire life. I soon found out his entire family social status, his early childhood, his success in high school and college sports as well as his interest in school and greatly respected work. His Rhodes Scholarship introduced him to a field of law which pleased his father but resumed his early childhood interest, once his father passed away. The rest is history....His system of classification (which is still used today) put Hubble on an International status but it doesn't end there. His studies of the Nebulae Red Shifts proved very useful and his data proved that the galaxy his greater than the Milky Way and later, was a key piece of information in the Big Bang Theory. Hubble's famous law V=Hd was so groundbreaking, that Einstein himself changed his General Relativity Equations to accommodate Hubble's law.

Edwin Hubble, by Gale E. Christianson, is an extremely well written and well organized biography. However if a reader was not deeply interested into Hubble and his life work, he/she may find the book a little on boring side. Not to say Hubble did not live an eventful life, but I personally do not find astronomy deeply interesting.

I believe the biography presents a complete and balanced account of the life of Edwin Hubble. The account covers his early years, family, education, military service, and his notable scientific career. The account of his education was interesting, especially his time at Oxford, England. Hubble's brief military career was covered, and his use of the image of "Major Hubble" afterwards tells much of his character. His scientific career, his work and professional controversies were covered in detail. If I were to be critical, I feel Hubble's early life received too much attention, I would prefer to have seen his scientic career covered in more detail. I brief, an interesting book, it almost makes me feel that I've met the man.