Einstein's Italian Mathematicians: Ricci, Levi-civita, and the Birth of General Relativity (Monograph Books)

In the first decade of the twentieth century as Albert Einstein began formulating a revolutionary theory of gravity, the Italian mathematician Gregorio Ricci was entering the later stages of what appeared to be a productive if not particularly memorable career, devoted largely to what his colleagues regarded as the dogged development of a mathematical language he called the absolute differential calculus. In 1912, the work of these two dedicated scientists would intersect—and physics and mathematics would never be the same. Einstein's Italian Mathematicians chronicles the lives and intellectual contributions of Ricci and his brilliant student Tullio Levi-Civita, including letters, interviews, memoranda, and other personal and professional papers, to tell the remarkable, little-known story of how two Italian academicians, of widely divergent backgrounds and temperaments, came to provide the indispensable mathematical foundation—today known as the tensor calculus—for general relativity. A wonderfully written chronicle of the lives of two great mathematicians and how their work shaped Einstein's masterpiece as well as ushering in new fields of mathematics. The book is also an intriguing and insightful portrait of Italy during the period from Italian independence in 1870 until the onset of World War II. —Gino Segre, Physics Department, University of Pennsylvania Galileo said that mathematics is the language of nature. Einstein might have found himself mute when it came to describing gravity if it weren't for the mathematics of covariant derivatives developed by Galileo's countrymen Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro and Tullio Levi-Civita. Judy Goodstein tells their stories and their connection to Einstein with clarity and grace in a most readable book. —Barry Simon, California Institute of Technology Cover......Page 1 Title page......Page 4 Copyright page......Page 5 Dedicaton......Page 6 Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 The Ricci of Lugo......Page 20 The making of a mathematician......Page 26 Munich......Page 32 Padua......Page 38 Math and marriage......Page 46 A promotion that wasn’t......Page 54 The absolute differential calculus......Page 64 The alter ego......Page 74 Intermezzo......Page 88 The indispensable mathematical tool......Page 104 “Write to me next time in Italian”......Page 118 Parallel displacements......Page 134 From Ricci’s absolute differential calculus to Einstein’s theorem for general relativity......Page 152 T. Levi-Civita, “Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro”......Page 166 Obituary of Tullio Levi-Civita......Page 176 Selected references......Page 194 Notes......Page 198 Index......Page 226 Back Cover......Page 231 Cover 1 Title page 4 Copyright page 5 Dedicaton 6 Contents 8 Preface 10 The Ricci of Lugo 20 The making of a mathematician 26 Munich 32 Padua 38 Math and marriage 46 A promotion that wasn’t 54 The absolute differential calculus 64 The alter ego 74 Intermezzo 88 The indispensable mathematical tool 104 “Write to me next time in Italian” 118 Parallel displacements 134 From Ricci’s absolute differential calculus to Einstein’s theorem for general relativity 152 T. Levi-Civita, “Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro” 166 Obituary of Tullio Levi-Civita 176 Selected references 194 Notes 198 Index 226 Other titles in this series 231 Back Cover 231 Chronicles the lives and intellectual contributions of Gregorio Ricci and his brilliant student Tullio Levi-Civita, including letters, interviews, memoranda, and other personal and professional papers, to tell the remarkable story of how two Italian academics came to provide the indispensable mathematical foundation for general relativity. An exchange of information between Italian Tullio Levi-Civita and Hungarian born Theodore Von Kármán, based on mathematics by Italian Gregorio Ricci Curbastro, helped provide the mathematical background used by Albert Einstein in forming his general theory of relativity--Publisher's description