A robust method for measuring the Hubble parameter

We obtain a robust, non-parametric, estimate of the Hubble constant from galaxy linear diameters calibrated using HST Cepheid distances. Our method is independent of the parametric form of the diameter function and the spatial distribution of galaxies and is insensitive to Malmquist bias. We include information on the galaxy rotation velocities; unlike Tully-Fisher, however, we retain a fully non-parametric treatment. We find $H_0=66\pm 6$ km/s/Mpc, somewhat larger than previous results using galaxy diameters.