Abstract

Sixteen years after his “Foundations of Geometry,” Hilbert published a communication that bears a similar and, by use of the definite article, even less mistakable title: “The Foundations of Physics.” In the opening paragraph of this article, Hilbert announced his intention self-confidently:In the following, I should like to set up — following the axiomatic method — a new system of fundamental equations of physics, constructed essentially from two simple axioms; equations that are of ideal beauty and in which, as I believe, is contained the solution of both Einstein’s and Mie’s problems