Gregory Abelevich Freiman (born 1926) is a Russian mathematician known for his work in

additive number theory Additive number theory is the subfield of number theory concerning the study of subsets of integers and their behavior under addition. More abstractly, the field of additive number theory includes the study of abelian groups and commutative semigr ...

, in particular, for proving

Freiman's theorem In additive combinatorics, Freiman's theorem is a central result which indicates the approximate structure of sets whose sumset is small. It roughly states that if , A+A, /, A, is small, then A can be contained in a small generalized arithmetic pr ...

. He is Professor Emeritus in

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

Biographical sketch

Freiman was born in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

in 1926. He graduated from

Moscow University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

in 1949, and obtained his

Candidate of Sciences Candidate of Sciences (russian: кандидат наук, translit=kandidat nauk) is the first of two doctoral level scientific degrees in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. It is formally classified as UNESCO's ISCED level 8, "do ...

Kazan University Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (russian: Казанский (Приволжский) федеральный университет, tt-Cyrl, Казан (Идел буе) федераль университеты) is a public research uni ...

in 1956. From 1956 he worked in

Elabuga Yelabuga (alternative spelling that reflects the Cyrillic spelling: Elabuga; russian: Елабуга; tt-Cyrl, Алабуга, ''Alabuğa'') is a town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the right bank of the Kama River and east ...

, and in 1965 he defended his

Doctor of Sciences Doctor of Sciences ( rus, доктор наук, p=ˈdoktər nɐˈuk, abbreviated д-р наук or д. н.; uk, доктор наук; bg, доктор на науките; be, доктар навук) is a higher doctoral degree in the Russi ...

degree under the joint supervision of

Alexander Gelfond Alexander Osipovich Gelfond (russian: Алекса́ндр О́сипович Ге́льфонд; 24 October 1906 – 7 November 1968) was a Soviet Union, Soviet mathematician. Gelfond–Schneider theorem, Gelfond's theorem, also known as the G ...

, Alexey G. Postnikov, and

Alexander Buchstab Aleksandr Adol'fovich Buchstab (October 4, 1905 – February 27, 1990;. russian: Александр Адольфович Бухштаб, variously transliterated as Bukhstab, Buhštab, or Bukhshtab) was a Soviet mathematician who worked in number ...

. From 1967 he worked in

Vladimir Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukr ...

, and later in Kalinin (now

Tver Tver ( rus, Тверь, p=tvʲerʲ) is a city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is northwest of Moscow. Population: Tver was formerly the capital of a powerful medieval state and a model provincial town in the Russian ...

). In the 1970s and early 1980s Freiman participated in the

refusenik Refusenik (russian: отказник, otkaznik, ; alternatively spelt refusnik) was an unofficial term for individuals—typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews—who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authori ...

movement. His

samizdat Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...

essay ''It seems I am a Jew'', described the discrimination against Jewish mathematicians in the Soviet Union. It was published in the US in 1980. Later, Freiman was driven out of Russia for his different views. He chose Israel as his new home country, leaving his son, daughter, and wife. In Israel he became professor in Tel Aviv University, and met a woman who he then married. They are still together to this day.

Selected publications

* * with Boris M. Schein: * * with Boris L. Granovsky: *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freiman, Gregory Living people 1926 births Russian Jews Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Israeli Jews Israeli mathematicians Number theorists Academic staff of Tel Aviv University Additive combinatorialists