Why Edwin Hubble Never Won A Nobel Prize?

Edwin Hubble [1889-1953] was the first person to discover that the universe was expanding. He also found that Milky Way is just one of many galaxies in the universe. Thus, Hubble emerged as a pivotal figure in the field of astronomy in the 20th century.

Despite being a pioneer of his field, and doing work that revolutionized modern physics, why did American astronomer Edwin Hubble never win a Nobel Prize?

Early life

Hubble was more famous for his athletic prowess than scientific achievements in teenage life. He was gifted at baseball and football in high school. Not only that, Hubble led the University of Chicago's basketball team to their first major title in 1907.

Hubble's academic journey began with a bachelor of science degree, which he finished in 1910. As a college student, he served as a lab assistant to future Nobel laureate Robert Millikan, the discoverer of value of elementary charge.

Astronomy work

Hubble earned a law degree at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar, demonstrating his diverse intellectual capabilities. He also studied Spanish for a while. However, his passion for science and astronomy prevailed over other interests.

In the 1920s, Hubble utilized a powerful 100-inch telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory in California to observe distant galaxies.

All the galaxies looked reddish in color. Like a siren whose sound gets lower and lower as it moves away. In terms of light, red is a color of low frequency. Hubble concluded that the galaxies were going away from us, so their wavelengths were stretched.

Ours was not a static universe like Albert Einstein had imagined, but it was an expanding universe, as Hubble had observed. This gave birth to the concept of the Big Bang theory.

Nobel prize

Edwin Hubble's notable contributions to the field of astronomy did not win him a Nobel Prize, and there are several reasons for this.

Firstly, at the time of Hubble's discovery in 1929, the Nobel Prize in Physics did not recognize work done in astronomy. Hubble spent the latter part of his career to have astronomy considered an area of physics.

Secondly, Hubble's work was truly groundbreaking, it changed our view of the cosmos, and the Nobel Committee may not have fully grasped the long-term implications immediately.

Thirdly, Hubble's work was more observational in nature and not supported by theory and experiment. It was dependent on Hubble's own interpretation of redshift data.

Legacy

Hubble's work was a key piece of evidence in supporting the idea of an expanding universe. Hubble has a crater on the moon and an asteroid named after him.

Hubble's legacy was further solidified when in 1990 Hubble Space Telescope was launched, capturing stunning images of distant nebulae, galaxies and other amazing cosmic phenomena.

5 Amazing Quotes By Max Planck On Science

Max Planck [1858-1947] was a German physicist who discovered energy quanta and laid the foundations of quantum mechanics in 1900. This won him the Nobel Prize in physics in 1918.

Best known for Planck's constant, denoted by h, Planck was a devout man who believed that his work with subatomic particles revealed to him the deepest secret of the universe.

According to Max Planck, the very greatest scientists of all times - such as Kepler, Newton, Leibniz - were permeated by a most profound religious attitude.

Early life

Max Planck was the sixth child in a family of intellectuals. His teacher Hermann Muller recognized the young talent and taught Planck astronomy and mathematics early on, aged 12.

Planck was gifted when it came to music. He played piano, organ and cello, and composed songs of his own. However, instead of music he chose physics for a career.

Planck's professor at University of Munich advised him not to study physics because in that field "almost everything is already discovered." Planck replied he just wanted to know more about the universe.

However, by discovering quantum theory Max Planck opened a whole new field of quantum mechanics which in turn gave rise to modern technology.

Quotes by Planck

1. Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination.

2. Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. That is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.

3. We have no right to assume that any physical laws exist, or if they have existed up to now, that they will continue to exist in a similar manner in the future.

4. What we perceive as matter is merely the manifestation of a force that causes the subatomic particles to oscillate and holds them together in the tiniest solar system of the universe.

5. Over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: Ye must have faith. It is a quality which the scientist cannot dispense with.

Why Astronomer Carl Sagan Was An Agnostic?

Carl Sagan was a renowned American astronomer who is best known for his show, Cosmos: a personal voyage. Sagan, an expert in the field of exobiology, persuaded NASA for Mars missions and to search for exoplanets with signs of life.

When asked about his religious belief, Carl Sagan did not assertively pick a side. He did not know for sure if there was a God. Carl was also uncomfortable about being labeled an atheist. That is why, Sagan claimed to be agnostic—to not hold any belief about God's existence.

In an interview, Carl Sagan described his unique idea of God, as a set of physical laws that govern the universe, which is the same as what Albert Einstein also believed.

However, Carl Sagan was an open critic of blind belief. At one point, Sagan also believed that religion or God was unnecessary in modern day society.

"Where did God come from?" Carl Sagan asks believers. "If we say that God always existed, why not save a step, and conclude that the Universe always existed?" Carl argues.

Carl Sagan adds that science has enlarged our picture of the universe. In some respects, science has far surpassed religion in delivering awe. "The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant", Sagan wrote in the book Pale blue dot.

Carl Sagan also criticized the idea of perfection - that God is perfect. He wrote in the book Contact - "Why didn't God start the universe out in the first place so it would come out the way he wants? Why's he constantly repairing and complaining? God is not good at design or execution".

Despite writing extensively not in favor of religion, Carl Sagan never described himself as an atheist, as boldly as contemporaries like Richard Feynman did. Carl Sagan was an agnostic because according to him: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

Richard Feynman was an atheist

"To be certain of the existence of God and to be certain of the nonexistence of God seem to me to be the confident extremes in a subject so riddled with doubt and uncertainty as to inspire very little confidence indeed". Carl Sagan adds.

On the other hand, Feynman had said: I call myself an atheist. Agnostic for me would be trying to weasel out and sound a little nicer than I am about this.

Who Was Eugene Wigner?

Eugene Wigner was a Hungarian American physicist who made important contributions to the physics of elementary particles. He was a Nobel laureate who was nicknamed "a silent genius" by his colleagues.

Advice for students

Wigner said: In science, it is not speed that is the most important. It is the dedication, the commitment, the interest and the will to know something and to understand it — these are the things that come first.

Early education

Eugene Wigner (1902-1995) was born to a middle class family and home schooled till the age of 9. During this time period, he developed an interest in mathematical problems.

Wigner started off by studying chemical engineering at the Technical University of Berlin. There he got the opportunity to attend seminars by leading German scientists: Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg and Albert Einstein. As a result, Wigner decided to pursue a career in physics.

Interesting fact

Eugene Wigner and Paul Dirac had become close friends in America. In 1934, at Princeton, Wigner introduced his sister Manci Wigner to Dirac, with whom she married.

Known for

Wigner was the first to identify several characteristics of the strong nuclear force, such as the fact that the force between two nucleons is the same, regardless of whether they are protons or neutrons. The strong force is charge independent.

Notable awards

Eugene Wigner won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1963. Earlier, he had won the Enrico Fermi award in 1958 for his work with nuclear reactors to convert Uranium into Plutonium.

5 Motivational Quotes By Madame Curie

Marie Curie (1867-1934) is the only person in history who has won two Nobel Prizes in two different sciences, physics and chemistry. Curie was prohibited from higher education in her native country Poland. She overcame all obstacles and became a leading figure in the academia.

Following are five inspiring quotes by Madame Curie:

Advice to her daughters

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.

To make a better world

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.

Science has great beauty

A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale. We should not allow it to be believed that all scientific progress can be reduced to mechanisms, machines, gearings, even though such machinery also has its beauty.

The way to success

I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.

Be humble

I have no dress except the one I wear every day. If you are going to be kind enough to give me one, please let it be practical and dark so that I can put it on afterwards to go to the laboratory.

Marie Curie got married to Pierre Curie, along with whom she won her first Nobel Prize in physics. The couple went on a bicycle tour of the French countryside for their honeymoon.

5 Quotes By CV Raman, India's Nobel Laureate

CV Raman was an Indian physicist who won the Nobel Prize in 1930. His discovery of the "Raman Effect" has extensive use in chemistry to provide a structural fingerprint by which strange molecules can be identified. Raman used to say "Ask the right questions, and nature will open the doors to her secrets."

Raman was born into an orthodox South Indian Brahmin family but his interests in the sciences kept him away from religious or spiritual activities. Eventually he described himself as an agnostic. Following are some amazing quotes by the first Indian Nobel laureate in science, CV Raman:

1. There is no Heaven, no Swarga, no Hell, no rebirth, no reincarnation and no immortality. The only thing that is true is that a man is born, he lives and he dies. Therefore, he should live his life properly. (1934)

Many started referring to Raman as an atheist, which he denied.

2. If there is a God we must look for him in the Universe. If he is not there, he is not worth looking for. I am being looked upon in various quarters as an atheist, but I am not. The growing discoveries in the science of astronomy and physics seem to be further and further revelations of God. (1945)

3. In a conversation with Mahatma Gandhi, Raman said "Mahatma ji, religions cannot unite. Science offers the best opportunity for a complete fellowship. All men of Science are brothers."

Raman was also active politically. He was famous for being an advocate of women's rights.

4. I have a feeling that if the women of India take to science and interest themselves in the progress and advance of science as well, they will achieve what even men have failed to do. Women have one quality--the quality of devotion. It is one of the most important passports to success in science.

5. As a political activist, Raman said: It seems to me that the real danger before our country is the crushing down of individual freedom and initiative by the steamroller of government authority. Democracy without freedom for the individual is a sham and a delusion. (1954 interview)

You can judge that CV Raman was not only a pioneering scientist but also a great thinker whose thoughts were progressive and way ahead of the time. Raman was the first Indian to win Nobel Prize in science who contributed immensely to the idea of agnosticism.