Emmy Noether on Energy Conservation in General Relativity

Understand

During the First World War, the status of energy conservation in general relativity was one of the most hotly debated questions surrounding Einstein's new theory of gravitation.

• His approach to this aspect of general relativity differed sharply from another set forth by Hilbert, even though the latter conjectured in 1916 that both theories were probably equivalent.
• Rather than pursue this question himself, Hilbert chose to charge Emmy Noether with the task of probing the mathematical foundations of these two theories.
• Indirect references to her results came out two years later when Klein began to examine this question again with Noether's assistance.