http://arxiv.org/pdf/1312.4068v2.pdf

Marcel Grossmann and his contribution to the
general theory of relativity

Tilman Sauer

Institute for Theoretical Physics
Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics
University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
and
Einstein Papers Project, California Institute of Technology MC20-7

Abstract

This article reviews the biography of the Swiss mathematician Marcel
Grossmann (1878–1936) and his contributions to the emergence of the
general theory of relativity. The first part is his biography, while the second
part reviews his collaboration with Einstein in Zurich which resulted
in the Einstein-Grossmann theory of 1913. This theory is a precursor
version of the final theory of general relativity with all the ingredients
of that theory except for the correct gravitational field equations. Their
collaboration is analyzed in some detail with a focus on the question of
exactly what role Grossmann played in it.