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Who Discovered the Expanding Universe?

Who Discovered the Expanding Universe? Hist. Sci., xli (2003) Helge Kragh University of Aarhus Robert W. Smith University ofAlberta INTRODUCTION The recognition that the universe is expanding is one of the greatest ever discover­ ies in cosmology. It is generally acknowledged that modem cosmology is crucially founded on this discovery, which, until the identification of the cosmic microwave background in 1965, served as cosmology's main observational basis. Given this elevated status, it is natural to ask how the insight was obtained, which may seem to include the question asked in the title of the present paper. The standard answer is undoubtedly that the expanding universe was discovered by the American astrono­ mer Edwin Hubble in 1929. According to the astrophysicist and science writer John Gribbin, "The discovery of the century, in cosmology at least, was without doubt the dramatic discovery made by Hubble, and confirmed by Einstein's equations, that the Universe is not eternal, static, and unchanging".' This is also what Encyclopaedia Britannica tells us: In studying the galaxies, Hubble made his second remarkable discovery - namely, that these galaxies are apparently receding from the Milky Way and that the further away they are, the faster they are receding (1927) [sic]. The implications of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png History of Science SAGE

Who Discovered the Expanding Universe?

Kragh, Helge; Smith, Robert W.
History of Science , Volume 41 (2): 22 – Jun 1, 2003
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References (81)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 2003 SAGE Publications
ISSN
0073-2753
eISSN
1753-8564
DOI
10.1177/007327530304100202
Publisher site
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Abstract

Hist. Sci., xli (2003) Helge Kragh University of Aarhus Robert W. Smith University ofAlberta INTRODUCTION The recognition that the universe is expanding is one of the greatest ever discover­ ies in cosmology. It is generally acknowledged that modem cosmology is crucially founded on this discovery, which, until the identification of the cosmic microwave background in 1965, served as cosmology's main observational basis. Given this elevated status, it is natural to ask how the insight was obtained, which may seem to include the question asked in the title of the present paper. The standard answer is undoubtedly that the expanding universe was discovered by the American astrono­ mer Edwin Hubble in 1929. According to the astrophysicist and science writer John Gribbin, "The discovery of the century, in cosmology at least, was without doubt the dramatic discovery made by Hubble, and confirmed by Einstein's equations, that the Universe is not eternal, static, and unchanging".' This is also what Encyclopaedia Britannica tells us: In studying the galaxies, Hubble made his second remarkable discovery - namely, that these galaxies are apparently receding from the Milky Way and that the further away they are, the faster they are receding (1927) [sic]. The implications of

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History of Science – SAGE

Published: Jun 1, 2003

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