In 1915 Einstein made a trip to Göttingen to give some lectures at the invitation of the mathematical physicist David Hilbert. He was particularly eager - too eager, it would turn 62 - to explain all the intricacies of relativity to him. The visit was a triumph, and he said to a friend excitedly, “I was able to 63 Hilbert of the general theory of relativity.”
64 all of Einstein’s personal turmoil(焦躁) at the time, a new scientific anxiety was about to 65 . He was struggling to find the right equations that would 66 his new concept of gravity, 67 that would define how objects move 68 space and how space is curved by objects. By the end of the summer, he 69 the mathematical approach he had been 70 for almost three years was flawed. And now there was a 71 pressure. Einstein discovered to his 72 that Hilbert had taken what he had learned from Einstein’s lectures and was racing to come up 73 the correct equations first.
It was an enormously complex task. Although Einstein was the better physicist, Hilbert was the better mathematician. So in October 1915 Einstein 74 himself into a month-long frantic endeavor in 75 he returned to an earlier mathematical strategy and wrestled with equations, proofs, corrections and updates that he 76 to give as lectures to Berlin’s Prussian Academy of Sciences on four 77 Thursdays.
His first lecture was delivered on Nov. 4. 1915, and it explained his new approach, 78 he admitted he did not yet have the precise mathematical formulation of it. Einstein also took time off from 79 revising his equations to engage in an awkward fandango (方丹戈双人舞) with his competitor Hilbert. Worried 80 being scooped(抢先),he sent Hilbert a copy of his Nov. 4 lecture. “I am 81 to know whether you will take kindly to this new solution.” Einstein noted with a touch of defensiveness.