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Imre Friedmann

1921 – 2007

American biologist

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About Imre Friedmann

Lived 1921 – 2007 (aged 85–86). Imre Friedmann was a botanist and biologist.

E. Imre Friedmann (1921 – June 11, 2007) was a biologist, Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Biology at Florida State University and the NASA Ames Research Center, and Director, Polar Desert Research Center. He studied endolithic microbial communities and astrobiology. After escaping the Holocaust, Friedmann received his Ph.D. in botany from the University of Vienna, Austria in 1951, and he died on June 11, 2007.

Friedmann made important discoveries of life in extreme environments, particularly cryptoendolithic microbial communities that grow within rocks in deserts, including those of Antarctica and the Negev Desert in Israel. He was also interested in terraforming and wrote several articles about the possibility of terraforming Mars using microbes. In later years he was involved with investigations of Martian meteorite ALH84001, which was claimed to contain evidence for early microbial life on Mars.

He was a Foreign Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and a Concurrent Professor at the University of Nanjing, China.

Friedmann was married to Roseli Ocampo-Friedmann, also a university professor, whom he met when she was a student in Jerusalem.

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Important facts

Born
1921
Birth century
Occupation
Employers
Florida State University
Also known as
Emerich Imre Friedmann, Friedmann, E. Imre Friedmann

Family & relationships

Spouse
Roseli Ocampo-Friedmann

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Imre Friedmann's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Imre Friedmann?

American biologist (1921–2007)

When was Imre Friedmann born?

Imre Friedmann was born in 1921.

When did Imre Friedmann die?

Imre Friedmann died on 11 June 2007.

What was Imre Friedmann's occupation?

Imre Friedmann was a botanist and biologist.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Imre Friedmann

· Wikidata: Q617277

· DBpedia: Imre Friedmann

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Imre Friedmann. https://biography.guide/imre-friedmann/

MLA: "Imre Friedmann." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/imre-friedmann/.

Chicago: "Imre Friedmann." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/imre-friedmann/.

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