Albert Einstein's discovery of the gravitational field equations of general relativity and David Hilbert's almost simultaneous derivation of the theory using an elegant variational principle,[B 1]: 170 during a period when the two corresponded frequently, has led to numerous historical analyses of their interaction.
[2] As the historians referenced below recount, Einstein and Hilbert corresponded extensively throughout the fall of 1915, culminating in lectures by both men in late November that were later published.
Hilbert's theory was based on the work of Mie combined with Einstein's principle of general covariance, but applied to matter and electromagnetism as well as gravity.
Mehra[B 4] and Bjerknes[B 5] point out that Hilbert's 1924 version of the article contained the sentence "... und andererseits auch Einstein, obwohl wiederholt von abweichenden und unter sich verschiedenen Ansätzen ausgehend, kehrt schließlich in seinen letzten Publikationen geradenwegs zu den Gleichungen meiner Theorie zurück" - "Einstein [...] in his last publications ultimately returns directly to the equations of my theory.".
[B 7] In the very next sentence, after asking the rhetorical question, Folsing answers it with "This is not really probable...", and then goes on to explain in detail why [Einstein's] eventual derivation of the equations was a logical development of his earlier arguments—in which, despite all the mathematics, physical principles invariably predominated.
Those who contend that Einstein's paper was motivated by the information obtained from Hilbert have referred to the following sources: Those who contend that Einstein's work takes priority over Hilbert's,[B 2] or that both authors worked independently[B 8] have used the following arguments: This section cites notable publications where people have expressed a view on the issues outlined above.
In 1997, Corry, Renn and Stachel published a three-page article in Science entitled "Belated Decision in the Hilbert-Einstein Priority Dispute" concluding that Hilbert had not anticipated Einstein's equations.
[B 2][B 11] Friedwardt Winterberg,[B 12] a professor of physics at the University of Nevada, Reno, disputed [2] these conclusions, observing that the galley proofs of Hilbert's articles had been tampered with - part of one page had been cut off.
Science declined to publish this; it was printed in revised form in Zeitschrift für Naturforschung, with a dateline of 5 June 2003.
In this paper, Winterberg asserted that Einstein sought the help of Hilbert and Klein to help him find the correct field equation, without mentioning the research of Fölsing (1997) and Sauer (1999), according to which Hilbert invited Einstein to Göttingen to give a week of lectures on general relativity in June 1915, which however does not necessarily contradict Winterberg.
Corry et al. offer the following alternative speculation: "it is possible that Hilbert himself cropped off the top of p. 7 to include it with the three sheets he sent Klein, in order that they not end in mid-sentence.
Todorov ends his paper by stating: Anatoly Logunov (a former vice president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences[11] and at the time the scientific advisor of the Institute for High Energy Physics[12]), is author of a book about Poincaré's relativity theory and coauthor, with Mestvirishvili and Petrov, of an article rejecting the conclusions of the Corry/Renn/Stachel paper.
"[B 16] This last point is also mentioned by Corry et al.[B 2] As noted by the historians John Earman and Clark Glymour, "questions about the priority of discoveries are often among the least interesting and least important issues in the history of science.
"[7]: 117 And: "Hilbert always remained aware of the fact that the great principal physical idea was Einstein's, and he expressed it in numerous lectures and memoirs ...."[15]: 92