Einstein and Hilbert’s Relativity Race

The published version of a talk by mathematician David Hilbert (1862-1943), dated the 20th of November 1915 is entitled ‘Die Grundlagen der Physik’ (“On the Foundations of Physics”). It was held five days before Einstein’s momentous paper ‘Die Feldgleichungen der Gravitation’ (“The Field Equations of General Relativity”) establishing the mathematical foundation for general relativity. Hilbert’s talk presented a theory of gravitation including field equations describing the fundamental interactions of gravity as a result of spacetime being curved by mass and energy. It was eventually published on the 31st of March 1916.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) had by November of 1915 been working on the theory of general relativity since his publication of the first paper on special relativity in 1905. However, it would take him ten years to generalize the theory so that it would relate the curvature of spacetime to the energy and momentum of whatever matter and radiation was present. Einstein’s field equations—the system of differential equations that specify general relativity—describe this relationship and were the last missing piece to his epic puzzle.

Generally acknowledged to be the greatest mathematicians of his era, Hilbert was in the audience when Einstein spoke at Göttingen University about his new theory of gravitation in early 1915. In fact, he had been the one to invite Einstein to speak. In his lecture, Einstein presented his progress and the difficulties he was having with making his field equations generally covariant (independent of their coordinate system). By fall, Einstein had not made any discernible progress. Hilbert, however, through various channels made it known that he was working on his own theory of gravitation, and indeed making progress. 

Leave a Comment