Three and a half priority disputes in science
Great scientists too succumb to common jealousies
December
19, 2015, 6:40 pm
A month and 100 years ago in November 1915 Albert Einstein spoke at four weekly meetings at the Prussian Academy in Berlin; at the fourth on 25 November he put forward the general theory of relativity (GR). On 16 and 20 November eminent mathematician David Hilbert presented a strikingly similar formulation to the Gottingen Academy and at a still uncertain date sent a paper much the same as GR except on an abstruse point better appreciated only by the cognoscenti. (Hilbert’s formulation was non-covariant while Einstein’s was covariant; Greek to laymen). There is confusion about the date of Hilbert’s paper as some original printer’s proof pages have been lost but it appeared in print on 6 December. Einstein’s was published on the 2 December. Einstein and Hilbert were friends and had corresponded and shared ideas about the difficulty of formulating the GR equations. Hilbert invited Einstein to Gottingen in June-July 1915 where he stayed with Hilbert and gave two six-hour lectures.
