Priority in discovery (and most Nobel prizes) always goes to those who did observations. A theorist may suggest a new interesting interpretation of the data, maybe the one the observer was unaware of, but they can not insist that he discovered something before the observers are sure of their data.
That is, Lemaitre can argue for being first to suggest interpretation of data that was present in 1927, that worked out to be correct, but he has no claim to discovery of the Hubble law. Moreover, the data circa 1927 was hardly good enough to provide a firm basis for such interpretation.
Speaking about the priorities, the attribution of cosmological solutions even in the English speaking world starts with the name of Alexandre Friedmann
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-11-19 05:09 am (UTC)That is, Lemaitre can argue for being first to suggest
interpretation of data that was present in 1927, that worked out to be correct, but he has no claim to discovery of the Hubble law. Moreover, the data circa 1927 was hardly good enough to provide a firm basis for such interpretation.
Speaking about the priorities, the attribution of cosmological solutions even in the English speaking world starts with the name of Alexandre Friedmann