Einstein and the beginnings of relativistic cosmology, 1917--1924 (Q2798914)

The history of general relativity theory and related general-relativistic cosmology is one of the best-documented fields of the history of physics. Based on a part of corresponding publications, the author outlines the first stage in the history of relativistic cosmology, and this mainly with respect to the debates on Mach's principle. To make this better understandable it is prepared by a view on Einstein's way to his general relativity theory and on some aspects of the so-called Mach principle concerning the origin of inertia that Einstein gathered from Mach's work. In the main part of the paper, one finds a representation of the controversial discussion between Einstein and his colleagues and Einstein's changing attitude to this principle.