Philosophy
Abstract...
The recent literature of history of astronomy and cosmology has included a good many suggestions for "who first recognized the expansion of the universe?" with cases having been made for Lemaître, Lundmark, de Sitter, Slipher, Shapley, Friedmann, Wirtz and perhaps others. I will touch on these but also mention others (some of whose names have not come down to us) who might reasonably be credited with some part of the basic idea, but conclude that "Hubble's Law" is the right choice ("because it was discovered by Lundmark" in accordance with Stigler's Law). Of course there are a couple of previously unsung heroes (Dose and Zöllner), and the discussion bears some traces of its origins as an after-dinner talk.
"Anybody but Hubble" by Virginia Trimble
- Allan Sandage...a New Paper By Lynden-bell And Schweizer
Allan Sandage was an observational astronomer who was happiest at a telescope. On Hubble’s sudden death Allan Sandage inherited the programmes using the world’s largest optical telescope at Palomar to determine the distances and number counts of...
- Move Over Clyde Tombaugh...milton L. Humason Had First Crack At Pluto
Milton L. Humason August 19th, 1891 to June 18th, 1972 According to Wikipedia... Due to merest chance, Humason missed discovering Pluto. Eleven years before Clyde Tombaugh, Humason took a set of four photographs in which the image of Pluto appeared.*...
- Georges Lemaître And The "big Bang" [aka "hypothesis Of The Primeval Atom"]
Georges Lemaître July 17th, 1894 to June 20th, 1966 This Big Bang will not end as to whom originated the notion. Georges (Henri) Lemaître was a Belgian astronomer and cosmologist, born in Charleroi, Belgium. He was also a civil engineer, army officer,...
- Shapley And Curtis Documents On The Universe--1921
Remember Harlow Shapley [1885-1972] and Heber Curtis [1872-1942] debates. Here are two papers by Shapley and Curtis as published in the Bulletin of the National Research Council [Volume 2, Part 3, Number 11, May 1921]. The Scale of the Universe, Harlow...
- Hubble Pix Selection...win A Prize
Here is an opportunity to celebrate the Year of Astronomy and win a prize. "NASA Wants You to Decide Where It Should Look Next" January 29th, 2009 FOX NEWS.com NASA wants the public to determine where in the universe it will next aim the powerful Hubble...
Philosophy
Expansion of the universe...who conceived this notion?
Abstract...
The recent literature of history of astronomy and cosmology has included a good many suggestions for "who first recognized the expansion of the universe?" with cases having been made for Lemaître, Lundmark, de Sitter, Slipher, Shapley, Friedmann, Wirtz and perhaps others. I will touch on these but also mention others (some of whose names have not come down to us) who might reasonably be credited with some part of the basic idea, but conclude that "Hubble's Law" is the right choice ("because it was discovered by Lundmark" in accordance with Stigler's Law). Of course there are a couple of previously unsung heroes (Dose and Zöllner), and the discussion bears some traces of its origins as an after-dinner talk.
"Anybody but Hubble" by Virginia Trimble
- Allan Sandage...a New Paper By Lynden-bell And Schweizer
Allan Sandage was an observational astronomer who was happiest at a telescope. On Hubble’s sudden death Allan Sandage inherited the programmes using the world’s largest optical telescope at Palomar to determine the distances and number counts of...
- Move Over Clyde Tombaugh...milton L. Humason Had First Crack At Pluto
Milton L. Humason August 19th, 1891 to June 18th, 1972 According to Wikipedia... Due to merest chance, Humason missed discovering Pluto. Eleven years before Clyde Tombaugh, Humason took a set of four photographs in which the image of Pluto appeared.*...
- Georges Lemaître And The "big Bang" [aka "hypothesis Of The Primeval Atom"]
Georges Lemaître July 17th, 1894 to June 20th, 1966 This Big Bang will not end as to whom originated the notion. Georges (Henri) Lemaître was a Belgian astronomer and cosmologist, born in Charleroi, Belgium. He was also a civil engineer, army officer,...
- Shapley And Curtis Documents On The Universe--1921
Remember Harlow Shapley [1885-1972] and Heber Curtis [1872-1942] debates. Here are two papers by Shapley and Curtis as published in the Bulletin of the National Research Council [Volume 2, Part 3, Number 11, May 1921]. The Scale of the Universe, Harlow...
- Hubble Pix Selection...win A Prize
Here is an opportunity to celebrate the Year of Astronomy and win a prize. "NASA Wants You to Decide Where It Should Look Next" January 29th, 2009 FOX NEWS.com NASA wants the public to determine where in the universe it will next aim the powerful Hubble...