history of physics

Cosmology: 100 years after A. A. Friedmann

arXiv:2607.11791

summary

The paper reviews the origin of Friedmann's cosmological models and describes how Soviet ideological policies suppressed research on dynamic universe models from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Abstract

A. A. Friedmann (04.06.1888 -- 16.09.1925) proposed the first physical cosmological models in 1920s. Despite the fact that Friedmann's works were very famous soon after their publication, the study of dynamic models of the Universe in the USSR was actually banned in the 30s - 50s of the last century, and Soviet philosophers and propagandists wrote that models of the evolving Universe were invented by Lemaitre on the demand of the Roman Pope, because according to Soviet philosophers such the birth of the universe is very similar to the divine creation of the world described in the Bible. Thus, in the USSR, Friedman's works were in oblivion in since 1930s until 1960s.

21 pages, presented as an invited talk at the International Conference "Nonlinearity, Nonlocality and Ultrametricity" (2025) on the Occasion of Branko Dragovich 80th Birthday

Topics & keywords

#friedmann equations#cosmological models#Soviet science policy#history of cosmology#philosophy of scienceFriedmannexpanding universeSoviet suppressionLemaîtrecosmology history
Cosmology: 100 years after A. A. Friedmann · wovepaper