What was the occupation of Edwin Hubble's father, John Powell Hubble?

Edwin Hubble’s father, John Powell Hubble, was an insurance executive.

John Powell Hubble worked in the insurance business and supported a family that moved several times during Edwin’s childhood. Edwin was born in Marshfield, Missouri, in 1889, and the family moved to Wheaton, Illinois, in 1900. In 1909, John moved the family to Shelbyville, Kentucky, before they ultimately settled near Louisville.

His occupation helps explain why the family’s movements were not tied to an academic or military career. John died in the winter of 1913 while Edwin was studying in England as a Rhodes Scholar. Edwin returned home the following summer to help care for his mother, sisters, and younger brother.

The answer is not newspaper editor, school principal, or railroad engineer. Hubble’s own professional path was very different: after studying law and teaching briefly, he pursued astronomy at the University of Chicago’s Yerkes Observatory. He later became one of the central figures in twentieth-century observational cosmology.