Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #785262 in Books
• Published on: 1996-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 435 pages

Amazon.com Review
Prior to Hubble, the universe was known to consist solely of the stars in the Milky Way and believed to be relatively stable in size. But because of Hubble's discoveries, we now know that the universe consists of an unimaginably large number of galaxies (containing Carl Sagan's beloved "billions and billions . . ." of stars) and that this unimaginably large universe is continually expanding. In this first serious biography of Hubble, Christianson deals both with the enormous importance of these discoveries and, paradoxically, the apparent unimaginably small-spirited and petty nature of the man himself. Highly Recommended.

From Publishers Weekly
Son of an overbearing Missouri insurance agent, astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) revolutionized our conception of the universe. Working at Mount Wilson Observatory in California, he proved by the early 1930s that galaxies beyond the Milky Way are rapidly moving away from us. His observational evidence led Albert Einstein to endorse the model of an expanding universe. Catapulted to fame, Hubble, a dashing, formidable figure, hobnobbed with Anita Loos, William Randolph Hearst, Charlie Chaplin and Aldous Huxley. In an exciting biography of a scientific giant who was a very fallible human being, Christianson portrays Hubble as an egotistical, hot-tempered striver who feuded bitterly with colleagues, an antinuclear activist who advocated world government and a prevaricator who claimed to practice law and to have boxed prizefighters to win over his future wife. Biographer of Isaac Newton and Loren Eiseley, Christianson provides close-ups of well-known scientists and astronomers such as Einstein, Harlow Shapley, Percival Lowell and Vesto Slipher. Photos.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Thanks to the space telescope bearing his name, nearly everyone has heard of Edwin Hubble. Unfortunately, few people know about "Hubble's Constant" or his work on the velocity-distance relationship, which, along with his observational data, solidified the concept of the expanding universe. This knowledge allowed us to determine the age of the universe and thus the time of the Big Bang. A professor at Appalachian State University in North Carolina whose earlier works include biographies of Isaac Newton (In the Presence of the Creator, 1984) and a collection of essays on modern astronomers (The Wild Abyss, 1978), Christianson received a Guggenheim Fellowship to write this book. The foundation's money was well spent. Christianson's work is a pleasure to read. Jargon-free and requiring no mathematics, it reads more like a novel than a biography and reveals the man behind the scientist. Tall, handsome, and athletic (he was an accomplished boxer), Hubble led a most interesting life. His circle of friends included Hollywood celebrities as well as men and women of letters. Highly recommended.?James Olson, Northeastern Illinois Univ. Lib., Chicago
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A compelling, engaging book that you won't put down.
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.

A worthy biography of a complex subject...
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.

In The Eyes of a High School Junior
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.