In the end, a degree of tension between Hilbert and Einstein did develop. A few days before Einstein made his successful equation public, Hilbert had sent an article to a periodical that showed just how close he had come to the same solution—and even today historians of science are faced with doubts when trying to evaluate the respective contributions of these two giants. At some point their relations cooled; Einstein feared that Hilbert, more senior and powerful, would seek to attribute to himself too much of the merit for the construction of the theory. But Hilbert never claimed to be the
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