Race to Relativity

A lot of people know of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity but very few know the person who was developing a theory of relativity simultaneously with Albert Einstein. It was a race as to who would reach relativity first David Hilbert or Albert Einstein. I think we all know who won that. But David Hilbert had made considerable progress and even had much less time to work on the theory. Albert Einstein spent more than a decade developing his theory of relativity. While Hilbert realized some inconsistencies in the theory of gravitation that humankind had developed since then and realized that a new theory had to create. Hilbert was one of the biggest and most successful mathematicians of his time and from a historical standpoint, many would have assumed that Hilbert would have reached the finish line first. But alas, a moderately popular physicist that hailed from Germany beat Hilbert out. He measured the position of the stars in the sky and realized that their movement was not typical. There was something wrong and an overhaul of our entire understanding of the universe was necessary. Hilbert understood this but took his time with the development of the theory as he failed to see the fine lines. But his contributions would not be forgotten as many parts of relativity are named after David Hilbert. In fact, Hilbert and Einstein and gotten ideas while attending conferences where both were present. They conversed and shared ideas of what would eventually come to be known as General and Special Relativity.

The competition was barely a competition and more of a friendly race as Hilbert and Einstein had both shared notes together, but it is still interesting to look back on. The cooperation necessary for the natural sciences to continue to progress are seldom looked upon but this true story displays the importance of such as relativity may have not been discovered as early or discovered at all if the two hadn’t met and exchanged information.