The universe is so much bigger than just our own planet, and that statement may be one of the biggest understatements ever uttered. The ever-expanding universe is so unfathomably large that simply wrapping one’s head around the concept is next to impossible.
Wendy Freedman does the impossible.
As one of the most influential scholars of the cosmos, Freedman has made significant contributions to our understanding of the universe's growth and shape. This is due in large part to her measurement of the Hubble constant, which is the rate of the universe’s expansion and its overall size.
Over the years, science has backed up her claims, and she has become one of the most respected experts in her field. Even to this day, Freedman continues to put out work, with a recent 2025 paper expounding on her studies using data from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Understanding the growing universe
Understanding the universe’s growth is not just a one-way street though – it has also allowed scientists to understand the inverse, of the universe’s age and by extension, its earliest years, and has also allowed for a more fleshed out and supportive understanding of the standard model of cosmology, also known as the Lambda Cold Dark Matter model, and putting together the mystery of the Big Bang itself.
Today, Freedman is a professor at the University of Chicago and one of the leaders in the development of the Giant Magellan Telescope, a $2 billion scientific marvel that will be one of the biggest and most powerful telescopes ever made, which will let us have a larger and more detailed view of space than ever before. Thanks to Freedman, the incomprehensible mysteries of the universe are becoming more comprehensible every year.
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