Alexander Friedman is a knight of science. Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman: biography In search of an infinite Universe
Russian and Soviet mathematician and geophysicist A.A. Fridman was born on June 16 (28), 1888 in St. Petersburg into a musical family. His father was a member of the corps de ballet of the Imperial St. Petersburg Theaters, and his mother, Lyudmila Vojaček, was a pianist, a graduate of the conservatory, and the daughter of a famous Czech musician and composer. However, little Alexander was attracted not by music, not by theater, but early years he was interested in mathematics. In school and student years To this was added a passion for astronomy. In 1906, Alexander Friedman graduated with a gold medal from the 2nd St. Petersburg Gymnasium and entered the mathematics department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University. In the same year, 18-year-old Alexander published his first mathematical work in one of the leading scientific journals Germany "Mathematical Annals" ("Mathematische Annalen"). The years of study at the university were decisive for all future fate A.A. Friedman. His teacher, reliable protection and support was the brilliant mathematician Vladimir Andreevich Steklov, whose name is now given to the Mathematical Institute of the Academy of Sciences. Professor Steklov, who moved to St. Petersburg from Kharkov, was an unusually bright person, a future academician and vice-president of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He had a huge influence on the development of the young scientist.
While still a student at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University A.A. Friedman wrote a number of works, one of which, “Investigation of indefinite equations of the second degree,” was awarded a gold medal in 1909. In 1910, Alexander graduated from St. Petersburg University and, on the recommendation of V.A. Steklov, together with his friend, Ya. Tamarkin, was left at the department of pure and applied mathematics to prepare for a professorship. Until the spring of 1913, Friedman was engaged in mathematics - he led practical classes at the Institute of Railway Engineers (1910-1914), and lectured at the Mining Institute (1912-1914). And in the spring of 1913, after passing his master's exams, he went to work at the Aerological Observatory Russian Academy Sciences in Pavlovsk near St. Petersburg and began to study methods of observing the atmosphere, dynamic meteorology (now this field of science is called geophysical hydrodynamics). In addition to weather forecasts and dynamic meteorology, he had to familiarize himself with the theory of terrestrial magnetism. He soon became an outstanding specialist in meteorology and related fields. In 1913, Friedman published a very important work"On the distribution of air temperature with height." In this work, he theoretically considered the question of the existence of an upper temperature inversion (in the stratosphere).
In the spring of 1914, Friedman was sent for an internship in Leipzig, where at that time the famous Norwegian meteorologist Wilhelm Freeman Koren Bjerknes, the creator of the theory of fronts in the atmosphere, lived. In the summer of the same year, Friedman flew on airships, taking part in preparations for the observation solar eclipse in August 1914. With the outbreak of World War I, Friedman volunteered to join an aviation detachment. In 1914-1917, he participated in the organization of air navigation and aerological services on the Northern, Southwestern and other fronts. Friedman repeatedly participated as an observer pilot in combat flights and reconnaissance operations.
Having mastered the profession of a pilot, A.A. Friedman teaches at an aviator school in Kyiv. In 1917, he was invited to give lectures at Kiev University, and then he moved to Moscow. For some time he worked at an aircraft instrument factory. The war undermined his health, and Friedman was diagnosed with heart disease. Doctors did not advise him to go to Petrograd, and he chose Perm. In November 1917, he submitted an application to participate in the competition, and on April 13, 1918, Friedman took the position of extraordinary professor at the Department of Mechanics at Perm University. Until 1920, Professor A.A. Friedman worked as vice-rector of Perm University, teaching courses in differential geometry and physics.
In May 1920, Alexander Friedman took academic leave and went to Petrograd. The life of a young scientist in the first years after the Revolution was very difficult. At one time he wanted to flee abroad with Tamarkin, who eventually emigrated alone. But Friedman was lucky; he was given the opportunity to work in Soviet Russia. In 1920, in Petrograd, he began working at the Main Physical Observatory (since 1924 - the Main Geophysical Observatory named after A.I. Voeikov), at the same time teaching in various educational institutions Petrograd - at the Polytechnic Institute (1920-1925), the Institute of Railway Engineers (1920-1925), etc. In December 1920, the scientist finally resigned from his duties as a professor of mechanics at Perm University.
In 1923 A.A. Friedman was appointed editor-in-chief of the Journal of Geophysics and Meteorology. Main works of A.A. Friedman are devoted to the problems of dynamic meteorology (theory atmospheric vortices and wind gustiness, theory of discontinuities in the atmosphere, atmospheric turbulence), hydrodynamics of compressible fluid, atmospheric physics and relativistic cosmology. In July 1925, for research purposes, he flew into the stratosphere in a balloon together with pilot P.F. Fedoseenko, having reached a record height of 7400 m at that time. Friedman was one of the first to master the mathematical apparatus of Einstein’s theory of gravity and began teaching a course on tensor calculus at the university as an introductory part to the course on general theory of relativity. In 1923, his book “The World as Space and Time” was published (republished in 1965), introducing the new physics to the general public.
Friedman's scientific activity was concentrated mainly in the field of theoretical meteorology and hydrodynamics. In these areas, his brilliant mathematical talent, constant desire and ability to bring the solution of theoretical problems to a specific, practical application were revealed. A.A. Friedman is one of the founders of dynamic meteorology. He also dealt with the application of the theory of physical processes in the atmosphere to aeronautics. He devoted a lot of effort to searching for patterns of, perhaps, the most chaotic processes in the world - processes in earth's atmosphere who make the weather. Despite the physical sounding words, he was essentially engaged in mathematics - partial differential equations.
Friedman's main work on hydromechanics is his work “An Experience in the Hydromechanics of a Compressible Fluid” (1922). In it, he gave the most complete theory of vortex motion in a liquid, examined, and for a number of cases solved the important problem of the possible movements of a compressible liquid under the action of certain forces on it. This basic research allows us to consider Friedman one of the creators of the theory of compressible fluids. In the same work, Friedman derived a general equation for determining the velocity vortex, which became of fundamental importance in the theory of weather forecasting.
In the spring of 1922, an appeal “To German physicists” appeared in the main physics journal of the time, Zeitschrift fur Physik. The board of the German Physical Society informed about the difficult situation of colleagues in Russia, who had not received German journals since the beginning of the war. Since the leading position in physics at that time was occupied by German-speaking scientists, it was a question of many years of information hunger. German physicists were asked to direct specified address publications of recent years, in order to then send them to Petrograd. However, in the same magazine, only twenty-five pages below, there was an article received from Petrograd and, at first glance, contradicting the call for help. The name of the author - A. Friedman - was unknown to physicists. His article entitled “On the Curvature of Space” dealt with the General Theory of Relativity. More precisely, its most ambitious application: cosmology.
It was in this article that the “expansion of the Universe” was born. Before 1922, such a phrase would have seemed completely absurd. Of course, astrophysics had yet to learn that the expansion of the Universe began billions of years ago; there was still to be measured and calculated; the problem of the horizon of the Universe still had to be pondered. But this idea was first put forward in 1922 by thirty-four-year-old Alexander Friedman. In his work “On the Curvature of Space,” Friedman essentially gave an outline of the basic ideas of cosmology: the homogeneity of the distribution of matter in space and, as a consequence, the homogeneity and isotropy of space-time, i.e. about the existence of “world” time, for which at every moment the space metric will be the same at all points and in all directions. This theory is important primarily because it leads to a fairly correct explanation of the fundamental phenomenon - the red shift effect. The solution to the field equations obtained by Friedman under the above assumptions is a model for any cosmological theories.
It is interesting to note that the author of the theory of relativity, Einstein, initially believed that the cosmological solution of the field equations should be static and lead to a closed model of the Universe. In September 1922, he criticized Friedman's work: "The results regarding the non-stationary world contained in the mentioned work seem suspicious to me. In fact, it turns out that the solution indicated in it does not satisfy the field equations." Einstein did not believe Friedman's results. Finding his cosmological picture implausible, he easily, but, alas, without any reason, found an imaginary error in the calculations of the Petrograd scientist. Only after receiving a letter from Friedman defending his case, and having done the calculations again, Einstein in May 1923 recognized the results of his Russian colleague and in a special note called them “shedding new light” on the cosmological problem. And for posterity, Einstein’s mistake itself sheds light on the meaning and scope of Friedman’s work.
The modern theory of gravity (general relativity) was created by Albert Einstein in 1915. According to this theory, under the influence of the mass and energy of bodies, space (more precisely, space-time) is curved, which, in turn, leads to the curvature of the trajectories of bodies, which is perceived by us as a manifestation of gravity. Immediately after the emergence of the theory of relativity, its creator tried to apply it to the Universe as a whole, but this attempt was unsuccessful. And now after 7 years unknown author from Soviet Russia, a country seemingly isolated from world science, boldly asserts that Einstein’s result is not at all necessary, but represents a very special case. Friedman was the first to discard the dogma of the immutability of the Universe, which had dominated the minds of researchers since ancient times. His conclusions were so unusual that Einstein at first did not agree with him and stated that he had found an error in his calculations.
It was difficult to study the General Theory of Relativity in Russia before 1920: there were no foreign publications or reviews in domestic journals. And a real boom around the new theory was already raging in the world. It began in 1919, immediately after English astronomers confirmed the deviation of light rays from distant stars predicted by Einstein. And the triumph of the theory of relativity still reached Russia. Popular pamphlets about the new theory began to appear. One of the first was a book by Einstein himself. The author’s preface to the Russian translation, published in Berlin and dated November 1920, said: “More than ever, in these troubled times, we should take care of everything that can bring people of different languages and nations together. From this point of view, it is especially important to promote "to the lively exchange of artistic and scientific works and under the current difficult circumstances. I am therefore especially pleased that my little book appears in Russian."
Friedman's studies in the general theory of relativity were by no means accidental. IN last years life he together with Professor V.K. Fredericks (1885-1944) began to write a multi-volume textbook on modern physics, which opened with the book “The World as Space and Time,” dedicated to the theory of relativity, knowledge of which Friedman considered the cornerstone physical education. It’s amazing how Friedman managed to master the theory according to its popular presentation in only a year and a half, but already in August 1920 he wrote to his teacher and colleague P. Ehrenfest: “I was studying the axiom of the small [special] principle of relativity... I really want to study the big [general] ] the principle of relativity, but there is no time.” Friedman's work on the general theory of relativity provided a dynamic model of the Universe and for the first time made it possible to explain the structure and development of the world as a whole. But it is unlikely that Friedmann’s cosmology would have appeared in 1922 if not for the physicist Fredericks. It was he who gave the first presentation of the general theory of relativity in Russia. His 1921 review in Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk, as well as several other articles on general relativity, may have helped Friedman master this theory.
The first non-static solutions of Einstein's equations obtained by Friedman in 1922-1924 while studying relativistic models of the Universe laid the foundation for the development of the theory of a non-stationary, expanding or pulsating Universe. The scientist studied non-stationary homogeneous isotropic models with a space of positive curvature filled with dust-like matter (with zero pressure). The nonstationarity of the considered models is described by the dependence of the radius of curvature and density on time, and the density varies in inverse proportion to the cube of the radius of curvature. Friedman found out the types of behavior of such models allowed by the gravitational equations, and Einstein's model of a stationary Universe turned out to be really only a special case. He refuted the view that general relativity requires the assumption of the finiteness of space. Having solved the equations of Einstein's theory of gravity taking into account the cosmological principle, Friedman showed that the Universe cannot be unchanged, depending on the initial conditions it must either expand or contract. He was the first to give a correct order-of-magnitude estimate of the age of the Universe.
Friedman's results demonstrated that Einstein's equations do not lead to a single model of the Universe, no matter what the cosmological constant is. From the model of a homogeneous isotropic Universe it follows that as it expands, a red shift proportional to the distance should be observed. In 1927, the Belgian scientist and Catholic abbot Georges Lemaitre came to the same conclusions as Friedman. Lemaitre paid great attention to the comparison of theory and observations, for the first time pointing out that the expansion of the Universe can be observed using the red shift in the spectra of galaxies. Thus, the expansion of the Universe was predicted theoretically, based on the theory of relativity, first by Friedman and a little later by Lemaitre. This was one of the most brilliant examples of prediction in the history of science. In 1929, Edwin P. Hubble, based on astronomical observations, confirmed that the spectral lines in the spectra of galaxies were shifted to the red end of the spectrum. Thus, astronomers who did not pay attention to Friedman’s theory became convinced that he was right. But Alexander Friedman, unfortunately, did not live to see the discovery of Hubble's law. After Hubble's discovery, it was shown that the non-stationary nature of the Universe actually follows from the law of universal gravitation (discovered by Isaac Newton at the end of the 17th century), more precisely, from the law of gravity itself. general property gravity, which consists in the fact that this force only attracts, but does not repel bodies.
In February 1925 A.A. Friedman was appointed director of the Main Geophysical Observatory, but held this position for less than a year. A.A. died Friedman in Leningrad from typhoid fever on September 16, 1925. He was only 37 years old. The outstanding scientist was buried at the Smolensk Orthodox cemetery. Friedman’s work was nevertheless appreciated, although many in the USSR called cosmology “the handmaiden of obscurantism.” In 1931, by decree of the Soviet government, for the outstanding scientific works of A.A. Friedman was posthumously awarded the Lenin Prize.
Alexander Alexandrovich Fridman, a talented Soviet scientist, one of the creators of modern dynamic meteorology, modern theory turbulence and the theory of a non-stationary Universe was a very brave man. He volunteered for the Russian-German front, and being already a professor (and the author of a new cosmology), he took part in a record-breaking balloon flight. But Friedman was not destined to live to see the true scale of his discovery, which so widely expanded the horizon of science, became clear. At the same time, let’s not forget in which country and at what time the “expanding Universe” happened to be born.
On May 31, 1923, Albert Einstein wrote: “In a previous note I criticized the above work, but my criticism, as I was convinced from Friedman’s letter, was based on an error in the calculations. I consider Friedman’s results to be correct and shed new light. It turns out that the equations fields allow, along with static ones, also dynamic (i.e., variable with respect to time) solutions for the structure of space."
Alexander Friedman – knight of science
Aron Chernyak
If I discovered a star,
I would call her “Friedman”...
Friedman! He is still a resident
Only a few bookshelves -
Mathematics lover
Young meteorologist
And a military aviator
On herma
on the Russian front somewhere...
The fact is that he went into something
Sensing the impermanence of forms
In this hurricane world,
Saw in the curvature of space
He's a galaxy scattering.
Expansion of the Universe?
We need to figure this out!..
This Friedman was a scientist
With a very enviable future.
Oh, shine above the sky
A new star, Friedman!
These are lines from the poem by the outstanding Russian poet Leonid Martynov (1905-1980) “If I had discovered a star...” It’s not very often that poets dedicate their poems to scientists; one might say that this phenomenon is unique. What attracted L. Martynov so much in the life and work of A. Friedman? He overtook Einstein, touched the mystery of the expanding Universe, a mathematician, a meteorologist and, to boot, a combat pilot - isn’t this enough to inspire a poet?! Let's try to briefly talk about A. Friedman, in prose, of course.
The tenth issue of the Red Army Air Force magazine “Bulletin of the Air Fleet” for 1925 published an obituary “In memory of professor, observer pilot A.A. Friedman". But Friedman was not just an ordinary observer pilot: when his plane flew on combat duty into the skies of the northwestern front during the First World War, the German front-line radio station broadcast a warning: “Attention! Friedman is in the air! The Germans were not in vain to worry: they knew who they were dealing with... This man was an “astronaut,” but not in the now generally accepted sense of the word. He did not go into outer space, was not a space conqueror, although in the early 20s the very idea of interplanetary travel had already become “fashionable”, the names of N. Kibalchich, K. Tsiolkovsky, R. Goddard, G. Oberth and others were already known enthusiasts of space conquest, scientific and popular science works had already been published and films about upcoming space achievements had been staged, quite serious people were already talking about this... Even the socio-political science fiction writer V. Ulyanov-Lenin showed interest in space topics.
The name of A. Friedman was not known to the general public; he did not become an idol of the crowd eager for an immediate “jump into space.” However, his name is inextricably linked with such fundamental concepts as “red shift”, “scattering of galaxies”, “world equations”, “models of the Universe”. For A. Friedman was the founder modern cosmology– the physical doctrine of the Universe as a single whole. It was not easy to rise to such a scientific peak: this required entering into a debate and shaking the position of the brilliant Albert Einstein. The great scientist and the young professor from Petrograd had never met. They crossed arms on the pages of the prestigious scientific journal Zeitschrift fur Physik (Bulletin of Physics). More precisely, they met in the vast expanses of the Universe. And on this global list a miracle happened: the little-known A. Friedman won - and the great Einstein nobly admitted that he was right. Who else can boast of such success!
A. Friedman cannot be classified as a “forgotten scientist”. Articles about him are available in all Russian and most foreign encyclopedias, in which he is characterized as an outstanding physicist and mathematician. Friedman is rarely mentioned in popular scientific literature. Jewish encyclopedic publications, as a rule, “forgot” about Friedman, and only the “Russian Jewish Encyclopedia” of 1997 included information about this wonderful scientist, and for some reason in an article about Father A. Friedman, a little-known musical figure.
Alexander Alexandrovich Fridman was born on June 17 (29), 1888 in St. Petersburg. In 1910 he graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Capital University and was left at the Department of Mathematics. His pedagogical and scientific activities begin. He lectures on higher mathematics and works at an aerological observatory. With the outbreak of the First World War, A. Friedman joined a volunteer air squad, taught classes at an aviation school, and organized an army air navigation service. In 1916 he headed the central air navigation and aerological service of the front. In all his endeavors, he showed brilliant engineering abilities and the qualities of an outstanding organizer. In 1917 Friedman accepted active participation in the construction of the Moscow aviation plant and soon became its director.
A year later, he goes to Perm to provide scientific assistance to the local university, works there as a professor and deputy rector, and creates a number of technological departments. Perm University is becoming a major center of higher technical education. Since 1920, Friedman has been a professor at Petrograd University, working at the main geophysical observatory, and in 1925 he headed it. Back in 1906, as an eighteen-year-old boy, he, together with the soon-to-be-famous mathematician Ya. Tamarkin, completed work on number theory, which was published in the pages of the German journal “Annals of Mathematics”.
Immediately after A. Einstein created the general theory of relativity, A. Friedman showed deep interest in this great discovery, especially in the “world equations” introduced by Einstein. Based on the solution of these equations, Einstein tried to determine the geometric properties of the Universe. In particular, he admitted the thesis that the world has the shape of a cylinder. Einstein also came to the conclusion that, under certain conditions, the Universe is spatially limited. Naturally, such a serious and very unexpected statement, which amazed contemporaries, could not be unambiguously accepted by everyone. Critical statements appeared that were not convincing enough: in order to refute Einstein, a scientific charge of extraordinary strength was required. And such a “charge” exploded: in 1922, an article “On the curvature of the space of the world” appeared in the journal “Izvestia Fiziki”. The author subjected Einstein's concept to deeply grounded and very significant criticism. He showed that Einstein’s “world equations” under no circumstances can be unambiguous and with the help of these equations it is impossible to give a definite answer to questions about the shape (if this word is even applicable) of the Universe and its finitude or infinity.
Next, the author considered the question of the radius of curvature of space. Einstein, when presenting his theory, considered this radius to be a constant value. The unknown author of the article stated: the radius of curvature of space changes in time, and under this condition, the possibility of non-stationary solutions of “world equations” arises. The author proposed three options for such solutions and, accordingly, built three possible models of the Universe. Two of them are with a monotonic increase in the radius of curvature, and one of the first two allows the expansion of the Universe from a certain point, and the second assumes expansion from a mass having finite dimensions. The third model represents a pulsating Universe, the radius of which changes with a certain periodicity. The author recognized the infinity of the Universe, its space and mass.
deeply founded and very
significant criticism.
This polemical article was sent from Petrograd, signed by Alexander Friedman. This name meant little even to specialists. However, Einstein was attentive to the new view, which rejected his claims. In the eleventh issue of the same magazine, he published an article “Remarks on Friedman’s work “On the curvature of space”,” in which he defended his positions. But some time passed, and in the sixteenth issue of the magazine a new publication by Einstein appeared on the same topic, in which he admitted his mistake and, accordingly, Friedman’s rightness. This is how the scientific dispute between Einstein and Friedman ended.
It is interesting to note one circumstance that is very characteristic of Einstein: despite the defeat, the great physicist considered it necessary to perpetuate the name of his opponent in his writings. In all subsequent editions of the famous book “The Essence of the Theory of Relativity,” Einstein specially emphasized: “His (Friedman. - A.Ch.) result then received unexpected confirmation in the expansion of the stellar system discovered by Hubble... What follows is nothing more than a presentation of Friedman’s idea ... There is therefore no doubt that this is the most general scheme, which provides a solution to the cosmological problem."
The end of the controversy with Einstein, so favorable for Friedman, stimulated his further work in the field of cosmology. They played a fundamental role in the development of this science. General scientific recognition of the model of the non-stationary Universe developed by Friedman occurred after the approval of the discovery by the American astronomer E. Hubble of the so-called red shift - in other words, the shift of lines towards the red part of the source spectrum. Red shift occurs when the distance between the source of radiation and the observer increases. This indicates the process of expansion of the Universe - the effect of “scattering” of Galaxies in all directions is observed. In turn, this effect confirms the correctness of the assumption of a non-stationary model of the Universe.
Soon after Friedman's death, the Belgian abbot J. Lemaitre (later the first president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences), based on his ideas, created his concept of the emergence of the Universe at a certain moment from one “father atom” - the theory of the “Big Bang” (“Big-Bang”) "). She received support from the works of the leading astrophysicist A. Eddington. Currently, this model is increasingly called the Friedmann-Lemaître model. During the years of Soviet power, this theory was declared idealistic. “It’s interesting that in Stalin’s times,” writes the director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics. Landau of the Russian Academy of Sciences V. Zakharov, - this theory was fought mercilessly, and those who preached it could easily end up in prison. This theory was absolutely prohibited, since consistent atheism, which was the religion of that time, is compatible only with the idea of infinite time, the endless repetition of everything."
We, separated from Friedman's time by dozens of years, are amazed by the exceptional breadth of scientific interests of this remarkable man. Figuratively speaking, he seemed to be looking for empty spaces of science in order to fill them. All of Friedman's works are marked with the stamp of outstanding intellect, are distinguished by a high level of novelty, brilliant mathematical talent, convincing evidence, and clarity of presentation. In the field of the theory of relativity, he, together with V. Fredericks, prepared fundamental works, but managed to publish only the first volume of five planned - “Fundamentals of the Theory of Relativity”. Of great interest is Friedman’s book “The World as Space and Time” (1923), a talented popularization of the theory of relativity.
Another direction scientific activity Friedman - hydromechanics and hydrodynamics. In the major work “Experience in the Hydromechanics of a Compressible Fluid” (1922, 1934, 1963), the author outlined a comprehensive theory of vortex motion in a fluid, the problems of possible movements of a compressible fluid under the influence of certain forces, and studied the kinematic properties of a compressible fluid.
Dynamic meteorology is another area of Friedman's work. His works in this area are fundamental. In works on the theory of atmospheric vortices, an equation was derived for determining the speed of the vortex. Vertical atmospheric currents were studied, patterns of temperature changes at various altitudes were established - the foundations of the theory of studying weather and its forecasting were laid. Friedman created the foundations of the statistical theory of turbulence. He also made a significant contribution to the theory and practice of aeronautics: in 1925 he made a record balloon flight, reaching an altitude of 7400 meters. All of A. Friedman’s activities are characterized by the desire to complete the results of research, from theory to practice.
An accurate assessment of Friedman as a scientist was given by his wife Ekaterina Friedman: “The ability to peer into the depths, with a broad sweep, to clearly, concisely present, apply to practice or leave in the form of a new theory, illuminate from all sides and give a new impetus to thought - these were characteristics his work, and his creative thought penetrated into all the nooks and crannies of his accumulated knowledge and illuminated them with the bright light of his disciplined mind and creative imagination.”
September 16, 1925 A.A. Friedman died in the prime of his life from typhoid fever. He was only 37 years old. The death of the scientist caused a stream of obituaries in scientific journals in Russia and other countries. Among the authors of these memorial articles is the great mathematician V. Steklov, a leading mechanic, and a specialist in the field of theoretical foundations rocket technology I. Meshchersky and many others. In 1931, A. Friedman was posthumously awarded the highest Soviet award for scientific activity. But Leonid Martynov’s poetic wish only partially came true: if not a star, then one of the objects on the Moon was named after Alexander Friedman.
The design uses the painting “Space Series” by A. Tyshler. 1970
Monthly literary and journalistic magazine and publishing house.
Fridman Alexander Alexandrovich - Soviet scientist, one of the creators of modern dynamic meteorology. Born on June 17, 1888 in St. Petersburg. In 1906, Alexander Friedman graduated with a gold medal from the 2nd St. Petersburg Gymnasium and entered the mathematics department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University. In the same year, 18-year-old Alexander published his first mathematical work in one of the leading scientific journals in Germany, Mathematische Annalen. In 1910 he graduated from St. Petersburg University and was retained at the department of pure and applied mathematics to prepare for a professorship.
Until the spring of 1913, Friedman was engaged in mathematics - he led practical classes at the Institute of Railway Engineers (1910-1914), and lectured at the Mining Institute (1912-1914). And in the spring of 1913, after passing his master's exams, he went to work at the Aerological Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Pavlovsk near St. Petersburg and began studying methods of observing the atmosphere and dynamic meteorology.
When did the first one begin? World War, Alexander Alexandrovich joined the volunteer aviation detachment. He was involved in organizing aerological observations and creating a special aerological service on the Northern and Southwestern fronts, and personally participated in reconnaissance operations, learning to fly an airplane. Later, Friedman was invited to teach at an aviator school in Kyiv. From 1917, he lectured at Kiev University, then moved to Moscow and from there to Petrograd.
On April 13, 1918, Alexander Alexandrovich was elected to the position of extraordinary professor at the Department of Mechanics at Perm University. Due to a shortage of teachers, he had to teach courses in differential geometry and physics. Deep study of these disciplines soon helped Friedman get closer to the discovery of his life - the theory of the expansion of the Universe.
In May 1920, Alexander Friedman took an academic leave and left for Petrograd. From 1920-1925 - senior physicist, head of the mathematical bureau, director of the State Observatory (St. Petersburg), professor at a number of universities in St. Petersburg (university, Institute of Railway Engineers, Polytechnic Institute, Maritime Academy).
Friedman's scientific activity was concentrated mainly in the field of theoretical meteorology and hydrodynamics. He also dealt with the application of the theory of physical processes in the atmosphere to aeronautics. They devoted a lot of effort to searching for patterns of processes in the earth's atmosphere that make the weather. The first non-static solutions of Einstein's equations obtained by him in 1922–1924 while studying relativistic models of the Universe laid the foundation for the development of the theory of the non-stationary Universe. The scientist studied non-stationary homogeneous isotropic models with a space of positive curvature filled with dust-like matter (with zero pressure). Friedman identified the types of behavior of such models allowed by the gravitational equations, and Einstein's model of a stationary Universe turned out to be a special case. Refuted the opinion that the general theory of relativity requires the assumption of the finiteness of space. Friedman's results demonstrated that Einstein's equations do not lead to a single model of the Universe, no matter what the cosmological constant is. From the model of a homogeneous isotropic Universe it follows that as it expands, a red shift proportional to the distance should be observed. This was confirmed in 1929 E.P. Hubb based on astronomical observations: the spectral lines in the spectra of galaxies turned out to be shifted to the red end of the spectrum.
Alexander Friedman was born in 1959 in Riga. Friedman received his education at the Riga Polytechnic Institute, specializing in automation and computer technology. So, having received the profession of a commissioning engineer, Alexander began to work, and since 1988 he got into the so-called cooperative movement, founding his own company.
Later, in one of his interviews, Friedman said that he was never specifically interested in consulting, but when difficulties arose in the company where he worked, he almost always found the right solution. Later, Alexander began to help his friends and acquaintances, and soon he was almost sure that he had invented the new kind activities. Friedman's surprise knew no bounds when he found out that this field - and it was consulting - was opened back in the 19th century. So, having easily given up the primacy of opening a new business, Friedman nevertheless decided to study a new science. Very soon he decided on the direction closest to him - it turned out to be anti-crisis consulting. It is noteworthy that even Friedman did not stray far from his main profession - being an adjuster, he continued essentially the same activity, now “setting up” slightly different objects. He actually started consulting in 1993.
In general, Friedman successively completed several advanced training courses, including studying in Germany, France and Poland. Subsequently, his main area of consulting became Organizational Development Management.
To date, Alexander Friedman has already organized more than 100 of his own projects; it operates in such business segments as Manufacturing, Banking and Finance, Chain Retail and retail, Insurance and in several other areas.
Fridman's clients include Norilsk Nickel, ROSNO, Salym Petroleum, Ilim Group OJSC, Lukoil Overseas Service, SAVAGE, MIR KNIGI, ABAMET, UPS - Russia, " ASCON", "ACCORD POST", "YUGRANEFT Corporation", "AVTOVAZ", "Air Navigation of the North of Siberia", "South Ural Technical Systems Management", "Coffee House", "MUZTORG" "EXTROBANK", "MDM - Bank", "DIATEK", "CD COM" and many others.
“I do not pretend to be innovative, and I also do not reject all other systems, concepts and works. Fortunately, in management there is still no single alphabet, Newton’s three laws or, say, the periodic table,” says Alexander. “As consultations and "I developed my system through seminars, trainings and coaching. The reference points were both the direct reaction of students and the implementation of projects to optimize corporate governance systems. I was always interested - may my clients forgive me - the practical application of the principles I formulated."
The world is not fully created: the heavens are always being renewed, astronomers are always adding new ones to the old stars. If I discovered a star, I would call it Friedman - better means I can’t find it to make everything clearer.
Friedman! Until now, he is an inhabitant of only a few bookshelves - an amateur mathematician, a young meteorologist and military aviator on the German front somewhere, and later - the organizer of the University of Perm at the dawn of Soviet power. Member of Osoaviakhim. Having caught typhus in the Crimea, unfortunately, he did not return from Crimea. Died. And they forgot about him. Only a quarter of a century later they remembered the man and seemed to revive him: “Young, full of boldness, he did not think without ideas. It is a fact that in some ways he went further than Einstein himself: sensing the inconstancy of forms in this hurricane world, he saw galaxies scattering in the curvature of space.” – “Expansion of the Universe? We need to figure this out!”
They begin to bicker.
But the fact is undeniable: this Friedman was a scientist with a very enviable future. Oh, shine a new star above the horizon, Friedman!
Some inaccuracies do not at all spoil the poems of Leonid Martynov, dedicated to the mathematician, physicist, meteorologist Alexander Alexandrovich Fridman, who succeeded despite short life, leave a noticeable mark on world science.
Academician P. L. Kapitsa argued that Friedman was one of the best Russian scientists. “If it had not been for his death from typhoid fever at the age of 37... he certainly would have done a lot more in physics and mathematics and would have achieved the highest academic ranks. IN at a young age He was already a professor and was world famous among specialists in the theory of relativity and meteorology. In the 20s, while in Leningrad, I often heard reviews of Friedman as an outstanding scientist from professors Krutkov, Fredericks, and Bursian.”
While still a high school student, Friedman (together with Ya. D. Tumarkin) published two short articles on number theory. Both received an approving review from the famous mathematician D. Hilbert. Friedman’s widow wrote: “...In childhood, the most severe punishment was invented for him, which pacified his rebellious temper: he was left without an arithmetic lesson, and he remained that way for the rest of his life. While still a student he published several mathematical research; one of them was awarded a Gold Medal from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics.” The widow was referring to work on number theory - again done with Tumarkin.
In 1910, Friedman graduated from St. Petersburg University and was retained at the mathematics department to prepare for a professorship. At the same time, he taught classes in higher mathematics at the Institute of Railways and the Mining Institute. For many years Friedman supported trusting relationship with his teacher Academician Steklov. The correspondence of scientists is of undoubted value, since it allows not only to see their interests, but also to understand the atmosphere that reigned in mathematics of that era.
“Dear Vladimir Andreevich,” Friedman wrote in 1911, “I had to remember the saying that you spoke about this spring: “Do as you know, you will still regret it.”
The fact is that I decided to get married.
I already told you in general outline about his bride. She is taking a course (mathematics); her name is Ekaterina Petrovna Dorofeeva; a little older than me; I think that marriage will not have an adverse effect on my studies...”
In the same letter, Friedman reported:
“...Our classes are with Yak. Dove. (with Yakov Davidovich Tamarkin, a student of V.A. Steklov and friend of Friedman) are going, it seems, quite favorably. They, of course, consist solely of reading the courses and articles recommended by you for the master's exam. We have already finished hydrodynamics and are starting to study the theory of elasticity. We have several questions, but it’s better to find out when we meet with you.”
In 1913, Friedman passed the exams for a master's degree in pure and applied mathematics. Having become interested in mathematical aerology, he got a job at the Aerological Observatory in the city of Pavlovsk, but at the end of the summer of 1914 the First World War began. Friedman volunteered to join an aviation detachment operating on the Northern Front. Starting as a private, he quickly rose to the rank of corporal, and in the summer of 1915 he received his first officer rank - warrant officer. Friedman not only established air navigation and aerological services on the Northern Front, but also took part in combat missions more than once as an observer pilot.
“...My life flows quite smoothly,” he wrote to Steklov on February 5, 1915, “except for such accidents as: the explosion of shrapnel at 20 steps, the explosion of the fuse of an Austrian bomb in half a step, which ended almost safely for me, and falling on my face and head, which ended with a torn upper lip and headaches. But, of course, you get used to all this, especially when you see things around you that are a thousand times heavier...”
After October revolution Friedman returned to teaching.
In 1918, he was given the position of extraordinary professor at the department of theoretical mathematics of the young Perm University.
Friedman taught at Perm University for two years.
Only in 1920 did he return to Petrograd.
In a hungry, cold capital, a young scientist got a job at the Main Physical Observatory. At the same time, he gave lectures at several universities, including Petrograd University. In 1922, Friedman derived a general equation for determining the velocity vortex, which later became fundamental in the theory of weather forecasting. At the Naval Academy, he gave a course of lectures “Experience in the hydromechanics of a compressible fluid,” solving a complex problem about the movement of a liquid or gas at very high speeds, when the liquid or gas cannot in principle be considered ideal and their compressibility must be taken into account. In those same years, together with L.V. Keller, he indicated a system of characteristics of the structure of a turbulent flow and constructed a closed system of equations, connecting the pulsations of speed and pressure at two points of the flow at different times. In 1925, for research purposes, he ascended in a balloon with the famous Soviet stratonaut P. Fedoseenko to a record height for that time - 7.4 kilometers.
Friedman’s two small works on cosmology attracted particular attention: “On the Curvature of Space” (1922), and “On the Possibility of a World with Constant Negative Curvature” (1924), published in the Berlin Physical Journal. In these works, Friedman showed that the geometric properties of the Universe on large scales should change dramatically over time, that is, all such changes should be of the nature of “expansion” or “compression.” A few years later, the American astronomer Hubble actually discovered the effect of the recession of galaxies - a consequence of the expansion of the Universe.
Before Friedman’s work, the belief in a static Universe was so great that even Einstein, when developing the general theory of relativity, introduced into his equations the so-called cosmological constant - a kind of “anti-gravity” force, which, unlike other forces, was not generated by any physical source , but was embedded in the very structure of space-time.
On September 18, 1922, Einstein published “Remarks on the work of A. Friedman “On the curvature of space.” The summary of this remark read: “...The results regarding the non-stationary world contained in the mentioned work seem to me suspicious.” However, already on May 31, 1923, having understood the work of the Russian scientist, Einstein hastened to announce: “... In the previous note, I criticized Friedman’s work. However, my criticism, as I became convinced... was based on an error in calculations. I think Friedman's results are correct."
Friedman proved that the matter of the Universe does not necessarily have to be at rest. The Universe cannot be stationary, he believed. The universe must either expand or contract.
In arguing this, Friedman proceeded from two assumptions.
Firstly, he pointed out, the Universe looks absolutely the same everywhere, no matter in what direction we observe it, and, secondly, this statement always remains valid, no matter from what place we observe the Universe.
The models considered by Friedman said that at some point in time in the past, naturally - cosmic time, that is, billions and billions of years distant from us (time that human brain difficult to perceive as something real), the distance between all galaxies should have been zero. At this moment (usually called Big bang) the density of the Universe and the curvature of space should have been infinite. Since mathematicians cannot actually handle infinitely large quantities, this meant that, according to the general theory of relativity, there had to be a point in the Universe at which none of the laws of this theory itself could apply.
Such a point is called singular.
Analyzing the concept of singularity, the French mathematician Lemaitre proposed calling the state of such a high concentration of matter a “primary atom.” He wrote: “The word “atom” should be understood here in its original form, Greek meaning. An atom is something so simple that nothing can be said about it and not a single question can be asked about it. Here we have a completely incomprehensible beginning. Only when the atom decayed into a large number of fragments, filling the space of a small but not exactly zero radius, physical concepts began to take on meaning."
Friedman's work caused a lot of unrest among physicists.
The idea that time once had a beginning did not appeal to many, wrote American astrophysicist Hawking. But I didn’t like this idea precisely because it contained some, albeit vague, hint of the intervention of divine forces. It is no coincidence that the Big Bang model was grasped by Catholic Church. In 1951, the Pope officially declared that the Big Bang model was fully consistent with the Bible.
Cosmologist W. Bonnor commented on this fact:
“Some scientists identified the singularity with God and thought that at that moment the universe was born. It seems to me highly inappropriate to force God to solve our scientific problems. There is no place for such supernatural intervention in science. And anyone who believes in God and associates a singularity in differential equations with him risks losing the need for him when mathematics improves.”
“The view I take is that the Universe has an unlimited past and future. This may seem as puzzling as the assumption that her story is finite. However, in scientific terms, this point of view is a methodological foundation, and nothing else. Science should not arbitrarily accept hypotheses that limit the scope of its research.”
“Sometimes they say,” wrote Academician Kapitsa, “that Friedman did not really believe in his own theory and treated it only as a mathematical curiosity. He allegedly said that his job was to solve equations, and that other specialists—physicists—should understand the physical meaning of the solutions. This ironic statement about his work by a witty man cannot change our high appreciation of his discovery. Even if Friedman was not sure that the expansion of the Universe, resulting from his mathematical calculations, exists in nature, this in no way diminishes his scientific merit. Let us recall, for example, Dirac’s theoretical prediction of the positron. Dirac also did not believe in real existence positron and treated his calculations as a purely mathematical achievement, convenient for describing certain processes. But the positron was discovered, and Dirac, without even realizing it, turned out to be a prophet. No one is trying to diminish his contribution to science because he himself did not believe in his prophecy.”
An obituary written by Friedman's widow said:
“Excelsior (above) was the motto of his life.
He was tormented by a thirst for knowledge.
Having chosen mechanics, this paradise of mathematical sciences (according to Leonardo da Vinci), he could not limit himself to it and sought and found new branches, studied deeply, in detail and was forever tormented by the insufficiency of his knowledge. “No, I’m ignorant, I don’t know anything, I need to sleep even less, not do anything extraneous, since this whole so-called life is a complete waste of time.” He tormented himself deliberately, because he saw that he did not have enough time to embrace with his gaze the wide horizons that opened up to him while studying new science. Always ready to modestly learn from anyone who knew more than him, he was aware that in his work he was following new paths, difficult, unexplored by anyone, and he loved to quote the words of Dante: “The waters that I am entering have never been crossed by anyone.”
In 1931, posthumously, Friedman's research was awarded the. V.I. Lenin.
| |
