All of you have heard about the Hubble Space Telescope - launched into the space in 1990, named after Edwin Hubble - who made one of the greatest discoveries in the modern science; the universe is expanding! A discovery that had great cosmological and theological impacts on the psyche of human beings.
However this is the story of Milton L. Humason. A man who started as a mule driver and rose to the ranks of permanent staff member who unraveled the mysteries of universe alongside great names like George Ellery Hale, Edwin Hubble and Harlow Shapley.
Humason's life taught me two lessons which I hope to embed in my mind for the rest of the years I have on planet Earth.
#1 It's never too late to change your life.
#2 Change is as big as your imagination.
Milton Humason was a school dropout who started working as a mule driver for carrying building material for Mount Wilson Observatory in 1917. It is said he applied for the position of janitor at the observatory.
Perhaps he was driven by the endless curiosity and courage some humans show. It's like those times when you're facing the wondrous magnetic sea - some throw a pebble before they turn their backs while others make an unceasing connection.
Still a janitor, Humason volunteered for the job of night assistant at the observatory. Carl Sagan in Episode 10: Edge of Forever pays a small tribute to Humason. Through his diligence and persistence he became a staff member in 1919.
The amount of information available on the internet about Humason is limited at the best. Some of his research papers are available online and most of the sources points to him as the "forgotten hero" behind Hubble's Law.
The articles vary on accounts of the relationship between Hubble and Humason. There is even a musical 'The Expanding Skies' which sings about the true story of Humason and his love for the expanding skies.
The best insight into the man behind the name Humason comes from a fellow scientist. Fritz Zwicky says in his obituary for Humason, "Humason never let himself be bluffed by those perennial high priests in astronomy who think they know it all."
(Quote) Finally, and perhaps most important, Humason was the ideal of a scientist who knows that society has made it possible for him to pursue in peace the quests that interest him most, and that for this privilege he must in turn serve and repay society. (Unquote)
You can read the complete obituary by Fritz Zwicky here.
Perhaps Humason was a man driven by thirst for knowledge and truth. He never cared about his name in the history. His name would remain in the memory of the cosmos - as Humason Crater on moon and Humason-Zwicky stars.
Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.
Edwin Hubble
Here is a poem
ReplyDeleteDaffodils
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
William Wordsworth