Re: Steel Man of Einstein & Relativity.

Things were as follows, in the period 1911-1915:
1) Einstein followed the ideas of Poisson, Faraday and Maxwell (gravity
and electromagnetism),in the sense that gravity was exerted through
FIELDS, not FORCES (Newton). To clarify, Poisson and Gauss didn't
rejected Newton, but only re-wrote Newton's equations of gravitation in
terms of fields and density.
2) In his 1911 Einstein, very stupidly, assimilated the POTENTIAL ENERGY
of electromagnetic energy (photons) to ANY gravitational potential
energy of any object raised from Earth's surface. But he APPLIED IT to
photons, writing the infamous equation f=f' (1+g.h/c2). This stupid
formula was brought up to the light again in 1961, by the Pound-Rebka
experiment in the paper "Do photons have mass?", which they later
reproduced by changing the name to "Red-shifting", using gamma rays from
Fe57 compound and the Mossbauer effect (no recoil).
3) Einstein was desperate to find a mathematician that could do the
dirty work since then. Firs tried with Alexander Pick, in Prague, but
the "partnership" lasted one year. He abandoned the professorship in
Prague and run to Berna, when he convinced his "friend" Marcel Grossman
to be the co-author of a paper on GR, promising him fame and glory.
Grossman, old pal from college, was specialized in differential
geometry, but his know-how was FAR AWAY from what was needed to write
even the first sketch of GR (Entwurf I, 1913).
4) Looking for HELP to find a mathematics that could cover spacetime
(four variables), he got the advice and full support of Levi-Civita, an
italian mathematician that (in his school), had expanded Riemann's
theory of N-Dimensions space with the use of Ricci tensors and
Christoffen symbols. Using it for 4-space dimensions posed a problem
because, as it described 4D objects of any form, as a point was used to
navigate such 4D surface, it suffered TORSIONS. There was only ONE
SOLUTION to avoid the problem of variant and contravariant variables and
IT WAS to use a Ricci's connector, which was torsion-free. Yet, the
solution was used ONLY for 4 dimensions of space!
5) What Grossman did was to replace the fourth spatial coordinate for
ct, which IS NOT A SPATIAL DIMENSION. By doing so, he created the tensor
notation of GR with spacetime embedded. When Grossman presented his
solution to Einstein, he went bananas and BEGGED to Grossman to develop
the mathematical framework of GR (1913 solution). Simplifying the
complex set of equations by using a context of ONLY ONE MASS in vacuum,
at the center of reference, it was all set to present it in society.
Only that it didn't work, because neither Grossman nor Einstein did
accept the hysterical advices of Levi-Civita, who detailed to them the
errors while using contravariant expressions.
6) Prior to the start of WWI, and the moving of Einstein to Berlin in
March 1914, a second publication with both names (Entwurf II) was
published, but was MATHEMATICALLY WRONG
7) It took, for Einstein, more than 1.5 years and THE ADVICES of
Levi-Civita, Schwarzschild, Hilbert and other advisors like Lorentz (to
cite a few of the impressive staff supporting him), to obtain a
MATHEMATICALLY CORRECT STRUCTURE OF GR, just exactly in November 1915).
Einstein promptly presented to the Prussian Academy of Science
(Schwarzchild was present that day) HIS SOLUTION for the Mercury's
problem. In the same paper included a few cryptic lines about that he
obtained a new value for the deflection of starlight grazing the Sun's
surface. He used APPROXIMATIONS to solve Mercury's problem, and NEVER
EVER presented any written proof of his assertion about startlight
deflection. Yet, by then HE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THE MATHEMATICS THAT HE
PRESENTED!
As a gentleman he was, Hilbert taught Einstein about the field equations
composition, what took up to March 1916. Einstein did thank Hilbert IN A
LETTER (also to Levi-Civita. Incredibly, he was more than UNGRATEFUL to
Scharzschild, who provided THE ONLY ANALYTICAL SOLUTION to the case of
GR with only one mass in December 1915. A solution that remained unique
until 1962, with the Kerr's solution for a rotating mass. At any case,
due to complexities, Schawrzchild's solution (with a minor correction
published by Hilbert in 1917) is the FAVORITE SOLUTION for relativists
AS OF TODAY.
8) That GR equations implied a twisted and retorted spacetime (IDIOTIC,
IMPOSSIBLE) was not a problem for the new generation of "apostles of
physics", avid to use the complex mathematical set of GR to invent any
possible (and stupid) new theory mounted on it (Black Holes,
Gravitational Waves, space moving faster than light, support for the
BBT, etc.).
9) The core of the theory, for laymen, is that heavy gravitational
masses (like the Sun) bend space. So, the gravitational field (a result
of GEOMETRICAL DISTORTIONS OF SPACE) produce A WELL INTO SPACE, through
which objects FALL TOWARDS THE CENTER, where the heavy mass is located).
As you can see, GRAVITY in GR is not caused by FORCES, but by objects
that accelerate while falling toward the center of the spatial
depletion.
SEE WHY GR IS IDIOTIC? IT'S AN INVENTION, WITHOUT ANY EMPIRICAL SUPPORT.
On the other hand, you can prove HOW EXACT Newtonian gravitational
forces are JUST HERE ON EARTH, and at any small scale.
Hope this complement your OP. Plus, to highlight the need of PROPER
KNOWLEDGE OF HISTORY OF SCIENCE.