<P> In 1912 , Einstein returned to Switzerland to accept a professorship at his alma mater , the ETH . Once back in Zurich , he immediately visited his old ETH classmate Marcel Grossmann , now a professor of mathematics , who introduced him to Riemannian geometry and , more generally , to differential geometry . On the recommendation of Italian mathematician Tullio Levi - Civita , Einstein began exploring the usefulness of general covariance ( essentially the use of tensors ) for his gravitational theory . For a while Einstein thought that there were problems with the approach , but he later returned to it and , by late 1915 , had published his general theory of relativity in the form in which it is used today . This theory explains gravitation as distortion of the structure of spacetime by matter , affecting the inertial motion of other matter . </P>
<P> In 1912 , Einstein returned to Switzerland to accept a professorship at his alma mater , the ETH . Once back in Zurich , he immediately visited his old ETH classmate Marcel Grossmann , now a professor of mathematics , who introduced him to Riemannian geometry and , more generally , to differential geometry . On the recommendation of Italian mathematician Tullio Levi - Civita , Einstein began exploring the usefulness of general covariance ( essentially the use of tensors ) for his gravitational theory . For a while Einstein thought that there were problems with the approach , but he later returned to it and , by late 1915 , had published his general theory of relativity in the form in which it is used today . This theory explains gravitation as distortion of the structure of spacetime by matter , affecting the inertial motion of other matter . </P>
when was the theory of general relativity published
when was the theory of general relativity published
late 1915
late 1915