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Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman

 

 
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Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman
 
 
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Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman or Friedmann (June 16 1888, Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
, Imperial Russia – September 16 1925, Leningrad
Leningrad

Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia* Soviet helicopter carrier Leningrad, of the Soviet Navy...
, USSR) was a Russian
Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavs ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.The English language term Russians is used to refer to the citizens of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity ; in Russian language, the demonym Russian is translated as Rossiyanin ....
 and Soviet
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
 cosmologist
Physical cosmology

Physical cosmology, as a branch of astronomy, is the study of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of our universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution....
 and mathematician
Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and/or research is the field of mathematics....
.

ander Friedman lived much of his life in Leningrad
Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
. He fought in World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
 (on behalf of Imperial Russia) as a bomber and later lived through the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917

The Russian Revolution is the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union....
.

He discovered the expanding-universe
Metric expansion of space

The metric expansion of space is the averaged increase of metric distance between objects in the universe with time. It is an intrinsic and extrinsic properties expansion?that is, it is defined by the relative separation of parts of the universe and not by motion "outward" into preexisting space....
 solution
Friedmann equations

The Friedmann equations are a set of equations in physical cosmology that govern the metric expansion of space in homogeneity and isotropy models of the universe within the context of general relativity....
 to the general relativity
General relativity

General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the Geometry Theoretical physics of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916....
 field equations
Einstein field equations

The Einstein field equations or Einstein's equations are a set of ten equations in Einstein's theory of general relativity in which the fundamental force of gravitation is described as a curved spacetime caused by matter and energy....
 in 1922, which was corroborated by Edwin Hubble
Edwin Hubble

Edwin Powell Hubble was an United States Astronomy. He profoundly changed astronomers' understanding of the nature of the universe by demonstrating the existence of other galaxies besides the Milky Way....
's observations in 1929 (Ferguson, 1991: 67).






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Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman or Friedmann (June 16 1888, Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
, Imperial Russia – September 16 1925, Leningrad
Leningrad

Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia* Soviet helicopter carrier Leningrad, of the Soviet Navy...
, USSR) was a Russian
Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavs ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.The English language term Russians is used to refer to the citizens of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity ; in Russian language, the demonym Russian is translated as Rossiyanin ....
 and Soviet
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
 cosmologist
Physical cosmology

Physical cosmology, as a branch of astronomy, is the study of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of our universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution....
 and mathematician
Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and/or research is the field of mathematics....
.

Life and work

Alexander Friedman lived much of his life in Leningrad
Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
. He fought in World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
 (on behalf of Imperial Russia) as a bomber and later lived through the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917

The Russian Revolution is the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union....
.

He discovered the expanding-universe
Metric expansion of space

The metric expansion of space is the averaged increase of metric distance between objects in the universe with time. It is an intrinsic and extrinsic properties expansion?that is, it is defined by the relative separation of parts of the universe and not by motion "outward" into preexisting space....
 solution
Friedmann equations

The Friedmann equations are a set of equations in physical cosmology that govern the metric expansion of space in homogeneity and isotropy models of the universe within the context of general relativity....
 to the general relativity
General relativity

General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the Geometry Theoretical physics of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916....
 field equations
Einstein field equations

The Einstein field equations or Einstein's equations are a set of ten equations in Einstein's theory of general relativity in which the fundamental force of gravitation is described as a curved spacetime caused by matter and energy....
 in 1922, which was corroborated by Edwin Hubble
Edwin Hubble

Edwin Powell Hubble was an United States Astronomy. He profoundly changed astronomers' understanding of the nature of the universe by demonstrating the existence of other galaxies besides the Milky Way....
's observations in 1929 (Ferguson, 1991: 67). Friedman's 1924 papers, including "" (On the possibility of a world with constant negative curvature of space) published by the German physics journal Zeitschrift für Physik
Zeitschrift für Physik

The Zeitschrift f?r Physik was a Germany academic journal published from 1920 until 1997. During the early 20th century, it was considered one of the most prestigious journals in physics....
 (Vol. 21, pp. 326-332), demonstrated that he had command of all three Friedman models describing positive, zero and negative curvature respectively, a decade before Robertson
Howard Percy Robertson

Howard Percy Robertson was an American mathematician and physicist known for contributions related to physical cosmology and the uncertainty principle....
 and Walker
Arthur Geoffrey Walker

Arthur Geoffrey Walker was a leading mathematician who made important contributions to physics and physical cosmology. He was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, England....
 published their analysis.

This dynamic cosmological model of general relativity would come to form the standard for the Big Bang
Big Bang

The Big Bang is the physical cosmology model of the initial conditions and subsequent development of the universe supported by the most comprehensive and accurate explanations from current scientific method and observation....
 and steady state theories
Steady State theory

In physical cosmology, the Steady State theory is a model developed in 1948 by Fred Hoyle, Thomas Gold, Hermann Bondi and others as an non-standard cosmology to the Big Bang theory ....
. Friedman's work supports both theories equally, so it was not until the detection of the cosmic microwave background radiation
Cosmic microwave background radiation

In physical cosmology, the cosmic microwave background radiation CMB is a form of electromagnetic radiation filling the universe. With a traditional optical telescope, the space between stars and galaxies is pitch black....
 that the steady state theory was abandoned in favor of the current favorite Big Bang paradigm.

The classic solution of the Einstein field equations that describes a homogeneous and isotropic universe is called the "Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric", or "FLRW", after Friedman, and Robertson, Walker and Georges Lemaître
Georges Lemaître

Monsignor Georges Henri Joseph ?douard Lema?tre was a Belgium Roman Catholic priest, Monsignor, professor of physics and astronomy at the Catholic University of Leuven....
 who worked on the problem in 1920's and 30's independently of Friedman.

In addition to general relativity, Friedman's interests included hydrodynamics and meteorology
Meteorology

Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting . Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century....
. In June 1925 he was given the job of the director of Main Geophysical Observatory in Leningrad. In July 1925 he participated in a record-setting balloon flight, reaching the elevation of .

Friedman died on September 16, 1925, at the age of 37, from typhoid fever
Typhoid fever

Typhoid fever, also known as enteric fever, or commonly just typhoid, is an illness caused by the bacterium Salmonella typhi. Common worldwide, it is transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with feces from an infected person....
 that he contracted during a vacation in Crimea
Crimea

Crimea or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is an autonomous republic of Ukraine located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name....
.

Another famous physicist, George Gamow
George Gamow

George Gamow , born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov , was a Russian Empire-born theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He discovered quantum tunneling and worked on radioactive decay of the atomic nucleus, stellar evolution, stellar nucleosynthesis, big bang nucleosynthesis, nucleocosmogenesis and genetics....
, was a student of Friedman.

See also

  • Big Bang nucleosynthesis
    Big Bang nucleosynthesis

    In physical cosmology, Big Bang nucleosynthesis refers to the production of nuclei other than those of H-1 during the early phases of the universe....
  • infinity
    Infinity

    Infinity comes from the Latin infinitas or "unboundedness." It refers to several distinct concepts – usually linked to the idea of "without end" – which arise in philosophy, mathematics, and theology....
  • energy
    Energy

    In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
  • conservation of energy
    Conservation of energy

    The law of conservation of energy states that the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains constant. A consequence of this law is that energy cannot be created or destroyed....
  • Friedmann equations
    Friedmann equations

    The Friedmann equations are a set of equations in physical cosmology that govern the metric expansion of space in homogeneity and isotropy models of the universe within the context of general relativity....


Important works

  • (English translation in: Gen. Rel. Grav. 31 (1999), 1991-2000.)
  • (English translation in: Gen. Rel. Grav. 31 (1999), 2001-2008.)


External links