The Hubble Space Telescope has produced the most stunning images of the cosmos humanity has ever seen. It has transformed our understanding of the universe, about its age and evolution, the life cycle of stars, and the very existence of black holes. Watch a video about the visionaries behind the Hubble.
The Hubble was designed after World War II, when astronomer Lyman Spitzer and a handful of scientists waged a fifty-year struggle to build the first space telescope capable of seeing beyond Earth’s atmospheric veil. Robert Zimmerman — author of The Universe in a Mirror: The Saga of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Visionaries Who Built It — takes us behind the scenes, explaining how some of Hubble’s advocates sacrificed careers and family, and how others devoted their lives to the telescope only to have their hopes and reputations shattered when its mirror was found to be flawed.
Watch the video:
