Sixth Grade
Worksheets
Edwin Hubble: Father of Observational Cosmology
What things interest you? Do you like sports, music, or perhaps learning new things? Edwin Hubble loved sports as a young man, but he went on to become one of the best astronomers in the world.
Edwin Powell Hubble was born in Marshfield, Missouri, on November 20, 1889. He was very bright but preferred sports to his studies. It wasn't until he was in college that he really concentrated on doing well in his classes.
As a child Hubble had enjoyed reading about science and adventure in Jules Verne's books. It was partly because of them that he majored in mathematics and astronomy.
His father did not want him to continue with the sciences. When he became a Rhodes Scholar and went to Oxford for three years, he studied law to please his dad. On his return, he passed the bar and set up an office, but he wasn't happy practicing law. His passion was astronomy.
Soon he was studying astronomy at Yerkes Observatory. He returned to the University of Chicago and received his doctorate in 1917. After WWI he took a job at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California.
