Who offered Hubble a staff position at Mount Wilson Observatory in 1919?

George Ellery Hale offered Edwin Hubble a staff position at Mount Wilson Observatory in 1919.

Hale was the founder and director of Mount Wilson Observatory and one of the most influential American astronomers of his era. He recognized Hubble’s promise while Hubble was completing his astronomical training and offered him a place on the Mount Wilson staff. Hubble joined the observatory in 1919 after his military service and remained there for the rest of his professional career.

Mount Wilson provided access to instruments that made Hubble’s landmark work possible, especially the 100-inch Hooker Telescope. Using it, Hubble identified individual stars in some spiral nebulae and showed that objects such as Andromeda lay beyond the Milky Way. His observations helped establish that the universe contains many galaxies.

The answer is not Harlow Shapley, although Shapley was a major astronomer associated with the period, nor Vesto Slipher, whose measurements Hubble later used in studying galaxy motions. Arthur Eddington was a prominent British astronomer, but he was not the person who offered Hubble this Mount Wilson position.