Which mathematician independently derived the Einstein field equations in 1915?

David Hilbert independently derived the Einstein field equations in 1915.

Einstein developed general relativity through a demanding search for equations that respected general covariance and correctly described gravity. In November 1915, he presented successive papers to the Prussian Academy in Berlin, culminating in the field equations that relate spacetime curvature to matter and energy.

At nearly the same time, mathematician David Hilbert was working in Göttingen on a mathematical formulation of gravitation. Hilbert used a variational approach: beginning with an action for the gravitational field, he derived equations equivalent to Einstein's. This formulation led to what is now called the Einstein–Hilbert action and became central to modern theoretical physics.

The historical priority question is more nuanced than the quiz wording suggests. Einstein published the final field equations first, while Hilbert independently submitted his work in late 1915; later revisions to Hilbert's paper and questions about the exact timing have fueled scholarly discussion. Still, David Hilbert is the standard canonical answer to the question of who independently derived them. Marcel Grossmann assisted Einstein mathematically but did not independently derive the final equations.