What was Edwin Hubble's middle name?

The story behind the answer

Edwin Hubble's middle name was Powell. He was born Edwin Powell Hubble on November 20, 1889, in Marshfield, Missouri, and later became one of the most influential observational astronomers of the 20th century.

Powell was also a family name: Hubble's father was John Powell Hubble. The astronomer is often identified simply as Edwin Hubble, especially in references to Hubble's law, the Hubble sequence, and the Hubble Space Telescope, so his middle name is easy to overlook.

Hubble first studied mathematics and astronomy at the University of Chicago before becoming a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He later established that many objects called nebulae were actually galaxies outside the Milky Way. His observations helped transform astronomy from the study of one galaxy into the modern science of extragalactic astronomy.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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