HR1 - History of Relativity and Cosmology |
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Speaker |
Goodstein, Judith |
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| Talk Title |
Recognizing Ricci |
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Abstract |
The names of the Italian mathematicians Ricci and Levi-Civita have been enshrined in the theory of general relativity since Einstein seized on the absolute differential calculus as the indispensable mathematical tool for expressing his uniquely determined gravitational equations. The physicist’s long-standing indifference to mathematics changed abruptly as he struggled with the theory, methods, and notation of the calculus developed and refined by Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, together with Tullio Levi-Civita at the University of Padua, before the end of the nineteenth century. While mathematicians and physicists are familiar with the Ricci tensor, by and large they know very little else about the mathematician for whom this symbol in differential geometry is named. This talk is a brief introduction to the story of his life. |
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