Einstein's `Z\"urich Notebook' and his Journey to General Relativity

TL;DR

This paper examines Einstein's Zurich Notebook to shed light on his conceptual challenges and the near-discovery of general relativity, highlighting the importance of his collaboration with Grossmann and the evolution of his ideas.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of Einstein's research notes, revealing how close he was to formulating the final theory and clarifying the development of his gravitational field equations.

Findings

Einstein's Zurich Notebook reveals key insights into his thought process.

The Einstein-Grossmann theory contained most elements of the final general relativity.

Einstein nearly discovered the final theory in late 1912.

Abstract

On the basis of his `Z\"urich Notebook' I shall describe a particularly fruitful phase in Einstein's struggle on the way to general relativity. These research notes are an extremely illuminating source for understanding Einstein's main physical arguments and conceptual difficulties that delayed his discovery of general relativity by about three years. Together with the `Ent\-wurf' theory in collaboration with Marcel Grossmann, these notes also show that the final theory was missed late in 1912 within a hair's breadth. The Einstein-Grossmann theory, published almost exactly hundred years ago, contains, however, virtually all essential elements of Einstein's definite gravi\-tation theory. This should become obvious by our streamlined presentation of the final phase in November 1915 that culminated with the definite field equations.