Milton Humason

American astronomer

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July 20, 2026

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Milton Humason was an American astronomer who played a crucial role in establishing the field of extragalactic astronomy. Working at the Mount Wilson Observatory, Humason collaborated with Edwin Hubble. Together, they demonstrated that galaxies are moving away from each other, a phenomenon now understood as the expansion of the universe. Humason's meticulous measurements of spectral shifts in galaxies, building on the work of Vesto Slipher, were essential for Hubble's determination of the redshift-distance relationship. This groundbreaking research helped solidify the understanding of the universe's scale and its dynamic nature.12

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Edwin Hubble
…by another Mount Wilson astronomer, Milton Humason. Humason measured the spectral shifts of the galaxies (and in so doing built on the pioneering studies of the Lowell Observatory astronomer Vesto Melvin Slipher), and Hubble focused on determining their distances. In 1929 Hubble published his first paper on the relationship between…
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…by another Mount Wilson astronomer, Milton Humason. Humason measured the spectral shifts of the galaxies (and in so doing built on the pioneering studies of the Lowell Observatory astronomer Vesto Melvin Slipher), and Hubble focused on determining their distances. In 1929 Hubble published his first paper on the relationship between…
Read More