Final answer:
Edwin Hubble's revolutionary discovery in the 1920s was that the spiral nebulae were distant galaxies and not part of our Milky Way, leading to the understanding of an expanding universe and the formulation of the Big Bang Theory.
Step-by-step explanation:
Edwin Hubble made a revolutionary discovery in the 1920s when he found that the spiral nebulae, such as the Andromeda nebula, were actually distant galaxies and not part of our Milky Way galaxy. This discovery challenged the prevailing belief that the Milky Way encompassed all that exists in the universe. Hubble's measurements of the Doppler shifts in light wavelengths of the galaxies led to the deduction that the universe was not steady and eternal but instead expanding. This discovery was crucial for studies of the evolution of the universe and contributed to the formulation of the Big Bang Theory.