The events of interest to historians of the dispute occurred in late 1915. At that time Albert Einstein, now perhaps the most famous modern scientist, had been working on gravitational theory since 1912. He had "developed and published much of the framework of general relativity, including the ideas that gravitational effects require a tensor theory, that these effects determine a non-Euclidean geometry, that this metric role of gravitation results in a redshift and in the bending of light passing near a massive body." While David Hilbert never became a celebrity, he was seen as a mathematician unequaled in his generation, with an especially wide impact on mathematics. When he met Einstein in the summer of 1915, Hilbert had started working on an axiomatic system for a unified field theory, combining the ideas of Gustav Mie's on electromagnetism with Einstein's general relativity. As the historians referenced below recount, Einstein and Hilbert corresponded extensively throughout the fall of 1915, culminating in lectures by both men in late November that were later published. The historians debate consequences of this friendly correspondence on the resulting publications.