Einstein Meets Hilbert: At the Crossroads of Physics and Mathematics

Abstract.

One of the most famous episodes in the early history of general relativity involves the “race” in November 1915 between Albert Einstein and David Hilbert to uncover the “correct” form for the ten gravitational field equations. In light of recent archival findings, however, this story now has become a topic of renewed interest and controversy among historians of physics and mathematics. Drawing on recent studies and newly found sources, the present essay takes up this familiar tale from a new perspective, one that has seldom received due attention in the standard literature, namely, the mathematical issues at the heart of Einstein's theory. Told from this angle, the leading actors are Einstein's collaborator Marcel Grossmann, his critic Tullio Levi-Civita, his competitor David Hilbert, and several other mathematicians, many of them connected with Hilbert's Göttingen colleagues such as Hermann Weyl, Felix Klein, and Emmy Noether. As Einstein was the first to admit, Göttingen was far more important than Berlin as an active center for research in general relativity. Any account which, like this one, tries to understand both the actions and motives of the leading players must confront the problem of interpreting the rather sparse documentary evidence available. The interpretation offered herein, whatever its merits, aims first and foremost to show how mathematical issues deeply permeated the early history of general relativity.