The Einstein Essays

Einstein and Hilbert’s Race to Generalize Relativity

Who got there first?

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Left: Physicist Albert Einstein (1879–1955). Right: Mathematician David Hilbert (1862–1943).

The published version of a talk by mathematician David Hilbert, 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…