Freundlich, Erwin Finlay (1885-1964)

German astronomer. He collaborated with Einstein in 1911 in testing predictions of the theory of relativity before its publication. They tested the motion of Mercury's perihelion and were prepared to test the bending of light rays as they passed the Sun during a total solar eclipse in 1914, but were prevented from doing so by the outbreak of war. The test was eventually carried out at the 1919 eclipse by Arthur Eddington.

Freundlich left Germany in 1933, going first to the University of Istanbul 1933-37, then to Charles University in Prague 1937-39, and finally to the University of St Andrews, where he was a professor of astronomy and director of the observatory from 1951. His works include many scientific papers and the book Celestial Mechanics (1958).