Key Takeaways:
- Alexander Friedmann (1888-1925), a Russian mathematician and meteorologist, made significant contributions to cosmology.
- Utilizing Einstein's general relativity, Friedmann's 1922 paper, "On the Curvature of Space," demonstrated a non-static universe capable of expansion or contraction.
- Friedmann's work led to revisions in Einstein's cosmological constant, originally introduced to support a static universe model.
- Friedmann's research provided a foundational basis for subsequent cosmological models, including the Big Bang theory and current understanding of cosmic expansion.
On June 16, 1888, Alexander Friedmann was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. An keen student from a young age, Friedmann studied mathematics and meteorology at St. Petersburg State University and the Aerological Observatory in Pavlovsk. After air force service in World War I, Friedmann taught at several institutions and traveled to discuss his research. In 1922, Friedmann published “On the Curvature of Space,” a paper in which he used Einstein’s theory of general relativity to demonstrate that the universe is nonstatic and can either expand or contract over time. Later papers went into more detail, and after back-and-forth with Friedmann, Einstein eventually retracted his own cosmological constant for a static universe in response to Friedmann’s work. Friedmann’s research laid the groundwork for future models of the universe, including the Big Bang, and current understanding of accelerating cosmological expansion. Unfortunately, Friedmann died quite young; when he succumbed to typhoid fever on Sept. 16, 1925, he was only 37 years old.
