Friedmann, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Friedmann, Friedmann also spelled Fridman, (born June 17 [June 29, New Style], 1888, St. Petersburg, Russia—died Sept. 16, 1925, Leningrad [St. Petersburg]), Russian mathematician and physical scientist.

After graduating from the University of St. Petersburg in 1910, Friedmann joined the Pavlovsk Aerological Observatory and, during World War I, did aerological work for the Russian army. After the war he was on the staff of the University of Perm (1918–20) and then on the staffs of the Main Physical Observatory and other institutions until his death in 1925.

In 1922–24 Friedmann used Einstein’s general theory of relativity to formulate the mathematics of a dynamic (time-dependent) universe. (Einstein and Dutch mathematician Willem de Sitter had earlier studied static cosmologies.) In the Friedmann models, the average mass density is constant over all space but may change with time as the universe expands. His models, which included all three cases of positive, negative, and zero curvature, were crucial in the development of modern cosmology. Friedmann also calculated the time back to the moment when an expanding universe would have been a mere point, obtaining tens of billions of years; but it is not clear how much physical significance he attributed to this speculation. It may, however, still be considered a part of the prehistory of the big-bang theory. Friedmann also considered the possibility of a cyclical universe. In his other work, he was among the founders of the science of dynamic meteorology.