- A theoretical physicist at the University of Nevada has
published a paper alleging that Einstein did not derive the gravitational
field equations at the heart of the General Theory of Relativity, and might
in fact have copied key equations from fellow physicist David Hilbert.
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- The two scientists were working in the same area in 1915,
and were developing their theories independently but concurrently. Each
submitted papers for publication throughout November of that year. The
two were also corresponding about their research, making it hard to unravel
exactly who knew what, and when. As a consequence the question of which
researcher can claim priority has been the subject of some debate.
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- Prof. Friedwardt Winterberg says that contrary to the
conclusions in a paper published in Science in 1997, Einstein did have
the opportunity to plagiarise Hilbert's work. He claims that printer's
proofs of Hilbert's paper have been tampered with, and that a key part
of the derivation had been excised.
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- In their 1997 paper, Corry, Renn and Stachel concluded
that Hilbert altered his published paper to include the correct forms of
the gravitation field equations after seeing Einstein's final paper. But
Winterberg argues that this is impossible. Winterberg suggests that someone
deliberately tampered with the document, specifically to support claims
for Einstein's priority. He compares the 'mutilated' document with published
papers, and notes that certain forms of Hilbert's notation were only used
by Einstein at a later date.
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- "My analysis of Hilbert's mutilated proofs therefore
cannot prove that Einstein copied from Hilbert," he says. "It
proves less, which is that it cannot be proved that Einstein could not
have copied from Hilbert. But it proves that Hilbert had not copied from
Einstein, as it has been insinuated following the paper by Corry, Renn
and Stachel."
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- Winterberg concludes that three people should be given
credit for developing the general theory of relativity: Einstein, for recognising
the shape of the problem, Grossmann for his insight that the contracted
Riemann tensor was key to solving the problem, and Hilbert for completing
the gravitational field theory equations.
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- The full explanation can be found here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/15/einstein_relativity/
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