Yes, Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity played a significant role in demonstrating that the universe was not static but rather dynamic and capable of either expanding or contracting. In the early 20th century, Einstein developed his theory of general relativity, which describes the gravitational interaction in terms of the curvature of spacetime caused by mass and energy.
At the time, the prevalent view was that the universe was static and unchanging. Einstein, however, introduced a cosmological constant (represented by the Greek letter lambda, Λ) into his equations to balance the effect of gravity and maintain a static universe. The cosmological constant acted as a repulsive force counteracting the attractive force of gravity on cosmological scales.
However, in 1929, the astronomer Edwin Hubble made a groundbreaking discovery. He observed that distant galaxies were receding from us, and the farther away a galaxy was, the faster it appeared to be moving away. This relationship between the distance and recession velocity of galaxies became known as Hubble's law.
Hubble's observations provided empirical evidence for the expansion of the universe, contradicting the static universe assumption. Einstein famously referred to the introduction of the cosmological constant as his "greatest blunder" when faced with the evidence of an expanding universe.
Einstein's equations of general relativity, without the cosmological constant, could describe a dynamic universe in which space itself was expanding or contracting. This idea laid the foundation for the Big Bang theory, which suggests that the universe originated from an incredibly hot and dense state and has been expanding ever since.
In summary, while Einstein initially introduced the cosmological constant to maintain a static universe, Hubble's observations of the recession of galaxies provided evidence for the expansion of the universe and led to the abandonment of the static universe idea.