Road to General relativity

[competition of two great minds]

Soon after publishing the special theory of relativity in 1905,
Einstein started thinking about how to
incorporate gravity into his new relativistic framework. In
1907, beginning with a simple thought experiment involving an
observer in free fall, he embarked on what would be an eightyear search for a relativistic theory of gravity. After
numerous detours and false starts, his work culminated in the
presentation to the Prussian Academy of Science in November
1915 of what are now known as the Einstein field equations.
These equations specify how the geometry of space and time
is influenced by whatever matter and radiation are present,
and form the core of Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Einsteins field equations consists with hard mathematics and
some fundamentals of physics. Einstein gave a lecture in 4th
November about his earlier paper with Marcel Grossman about
theory of GRAVITY and revealed that there was some
mistakes and he was going back to correct them. After the
lecture Einstein engrossed himself in in his theory that
sometimes his forgot to eat. But there was a competition.
Mathematician DAVID HILBERT in June 1915 had a short
conversation with Einstein about his paper and Einstein
learned that Hilbert found the flaws in his paper and he was
pushing toward the General theory of relativity. SO HERE

THE WORLD WILL SEE A STIFF COMPETITION OF TWO

MINDS!! WHO WILL WIN??? LETS FIGURE OUT!!
11 Nov 1915: Einstein send a post card about his 2nd lecture in
the academy. He just wanted to cut Hilbert out of his way!

This was the letter

Mercurys shifting orbit

But surprisingly Hilbert said he already knew the equations of

General Relativity! And he wanted to meet Einstein and
describe all he knew. But Einstein himself have the solutions
and didnt want someone to tell him! So he REDOUBLED his
efforts! And he shifts his focus little bit, he decides to work
on a long standing puzzle in Newtonian gravity.
The puzzle was Mercurys orbit shifts each year a little bit!
Which was unpredicted in Newtonian Gravity. And it shifts
43arc.sec/century, so Einstein sets down his equation he was
developing for general relativity and applies them to mercurys
motion. After he was done with his calculation he was amazed!

Because his mathematics predicts that mercurys orbit should

shift 43arc.sec/century. And then he was set to lecture on his
observation on that following week (18thnov at academy).
18 Nov 1915: That day morning Einstein received a mail from
Hilbert. Which completely shakes Einsteins mind. Hilbert
wrote the same imaginations which Einstein was figuring out.
But he denied Hilberts letter saying that he already knew
them and he had already figure out the trajectory problem!
So he gave the lecture and after that he turned to give a final
push to complete the equations of General theory of
relativity!
But you have to remind the context that Einsteins personal
life at that time was in chaos!! His wife took his son and
daughter and left berlin and Einsteins cousin Elsa was putting
to finalize the divorce with his wife..
So Einstein was working on an empty apartment in Berlin with
all of this chaos and somehow he was able to push through and
come up with the final form of the equations!!
25th Nov 1915: 100 years back in this day Albert Einstein
lectured in the Prussian Academy of Science for the 4th time.
This time he stood proudly in front of assembled crowd and
announced to them and to the world that he finally completed
the equations of General theory of Relativity! That was[page 3]

Einstein is telling us that the earth, moon they all wrap the
space-time environment! Then any other object thats moving
through this environment it gets nudged around by the wraps
and curves in essence that is how gravity is communicated
from one place to another. Wraps and curves that influence
the motion of the body moving by. And this is triumph. This is
what Einstein was working over a decade! And finally 25th Nov
1915 he announced to the world this new understanding of
gravity!
But what about Einsteins competitor David Hilbert??
Well he came up with his own version of the equation-

[page 5]

But in the publish paper in which Hilbert gave this

mathematical form, Hilbert made clear that he believed
Einstein deserved the credit of the discovery of the General
theory of relativity. A wonderful mesmerizing conclusion to
this competitive spirit that drove this two great minds toward
the final form of the General theory of Relativity.
Hilberts equation is known as the Einstein-Hilbert action.

So Einstein Hilbert is telling us that

GRAVITY is communicated by the shape
wraps and curves in the SPACE-TIME!!!