Hilbert, Minkowski and Einstein Hilbert was Born on 1862, in Konigsberg, a German mathematician.

Minkowski was his best friend since their student years in the university of Konigsberg. Two years younger than Hilbert.

Minkowski:famous in number theory, geometry, mathematical physics. was a teacher of Einstein in Zurich Polytechnic, where Einstein attended the following lectures of Minkowski: Geometry of Numbers, Function Theory, Potential Theory, Elliptic Functions, Analytical Mechanics, Variational Calculus, Algebra, Partial differential Equations, and Applications of Analytical Mechanics. Minkowski told Born later that it came to him as a great shock when Einstein published his paper in which the equivalence of the different local times of observers moving relative to each other was pronounced; for he had reached the same conclusions independently but did not publish them because he wished first to work out the mathematical structure in all its splendor.

He never made a priority claim and always gave Einstein his full share in the great discovery. Minkowski, who was the first to recognize the formal mathematical importance of Einstein's relativity theory, once admitted to his student, the physicist Max Born, "For me it came as a tremendous surprise, for in his student days Einstein had been a real lazybones. He never bothered about mathematics at all". Einstein explained in his Autobiographical Notes,7

"I had excellent teachers (for example, [Adolf] Hurwitz, Minkowski), so that I should have been able to obtain a mathematical training in depth. I worked most of the time in physical laboratory, however, fascinated by the direct contact with experience. and it was not clear to me as a young student that access to a more profound knowledge of the basic principles of physics depends on the most intricate mathematical methods. This dawned upon me only gradually after years of independent scientific work". Between 1908 and 1909 Einstein and Laub collaborated in three jointly works. In the opening paragraph of their first paper they wrote:

"In a recent published study Mr. Minkowski has presented the fundamental equations for the electromagnetic processes in moving bodies. In view of the fact that this study makes rather great demands on the reader in its mathematical aspects, we do not consider it superfluous to derive here these important equations in an elementary way, which, is, by the way, essentially in agreement with that of Minkowski". By 1907 Minkowski realized that the special theory of relativity, could best be understood in a four-dimensional space, since known as the "Minkowski spacetime", in which time and space are not separated entities but intermingled in a four dimensional space–time.

Einstein at first viewed Minkowski's treatment as a mere mathematical trick, before eventually realizing that a geometrical view of space–time would be necessary in order to complete his own later work in general relativity (1915).[ Minkowski studied in Königsberg and taught in Bonn (1887–1894), Königsberg

(1894–1896) and Zürich (1896–1902), and finally in

Göttingen from 1902 until his premature death in 1909.

Minkowski died suddenly of appendicitis in Göttingen on 12 January 1909. Hilbert had large influence in many branches of mathematics.

In algebraic geometry, two foundational theorems: Hilbert basis theorem, Hilbert Nullstellensatz.

In logic, he gave axiomatization of geometry, proposed Hilbert’s program(proved to be impossible by Godel).

In functional analysis, introduced Hilbert space, basis of quantum physics.

In number theory, unified the field of algebraic number theory, advanced class field theory. By early summer 1915, Hilbert's interest in physics had focused on general relativity, and he invited Einstein to Göttingen to deliver a week of lectures on the subject. Einstein received an enthusiastic reception at Göttingen.

During November 1915 Einstein published several papers culminating in "The Field Equations of Gravitation" (see Einstein field equations).Nearly simultaneously David Hilbert published "The Foundations of Physics", an axiomatic derivation of the field equations (see Einstein–Hilbert action).

Hilbert fully credited Einstein as the originator of the theory, and no public priority dispute concerning the field equations ever arose between the two men during their lives. The Schwarzschild solution is named in honor of Karl Schwarzschild, who found the exact solution in 1915 and published it in 1916,[5] a little more than a month after the publication of Einstein's theory of general relativity. It was the first exact solution of the Einstein field equations other than the trivial flat space solution.

The Schwarzschild black hole is characterized by a surrounding spherical boundary, called the event horizon, which is situated at the Schwarzschild radius, often called the radius of a black hole. Hilbert always gave full credit to Einstein, however. He once remarked,

"Every boy in the streets of Gottingen understands more about four-dimensional geometry than Einstein. Yet, in spite of that, Einstein did the work and not the mathematicians." In the first world war, the German invasion of Belgium was a military campaign which began on 4 August 1914.

Hilbert thought the war was stupid, and said so.

A group of its most famous artists and scientists addressed “To the cultural world”.

The declaration listed the “lies and slanders of the enemy”, and beginning with the statement “It is not true that Germany caused this war”. The Declaration to the Cultural World was publicized by the German government on October 15, 1914.

Those signing included such famous scientists as Planck, Klein….

Two names were missing:

One was Einstein’s, one was Hilbert’s.

When classes resumed at the beginning of November, many people turned away from Hilbert as if he were indeed a traitor. Quotations by David Hilbert

[On the proposed appointment of Emmy Noether as the first woman professor.]

The faculty is not a pool changing room.

If one were to bring ten of the wisest men in the world together and ask them what was the most stupid thing in existence, they would not be able to discover anything so stupid as astrology.

If I were to awaken after having slept for a thousand years, my first question would be: Has the Riemann hypothesis been proven?