It has often been assumed in cosmology theory(1) that there exists an average density of matter in space which is everywhere greater than zero. Under this assumption the space-time M will be foliated by curves each of which represents the life history of a particle. In keeping with the postulates of general relativity theory we shall refer to these curves as geodesics. Letting X denote the space of particles one obtains a projection f: M → X which assigns to every P ∈ M the particle found at P. Conversely, given the projection f:M → X, one can recover the geodesics: they are precisely the fibres f−1(x), x∈X.
A history of algebraic and differential topology, 1900–1960