Happy Birthday, Edwin

Edwin Hubble was born today in 1889 in Marshfield, Missouri. He began his professional life as a lawyer, but got bored, went back to school for a second doctorate - in astronomy - and spent the rest of his life at Mount Wilson Observatory in California. Hubble is credited with proving that the Milky Way was not the only thing in the universe. As Wikipedia so succinctly says: "Hubble's discovery fundamentally changed the view of the universe." It is not given to many to do that.

Hubble did not win the Nobel Prize only because he died suddenly. His work was meticulous, ground-breaking (if you can say that about someone who studied the farthest skies), and immensely important. He was justly honored by having the Hubble Space Telescope named after him.