In a paper, published in 1997 by L. Corry, J. Renn, and J. Stachel, it is claimed that the recently discovered printer’s proofs of Hilbert’s 1915 paper on the general theory of relativity prove that Hilbert did not anticipate Einstein in arriving at the correct form of the gravitational field equations, as it is widely believed, but that only after having seen Einstein’s final paper did Hilbert amend his published version with the correct form of the gravitational field equations. However, because a crucial part of the printer’s proofs of Hilbert’s paper had been cut off by someone, a fact not mentioned in the paper by Corry, Renn, and Stachel, the conclusion drawn by Corry, Renn, and Stachel is untenable and has no probative value. I rather will show that the cut off part of the proofs suggests a crude attempt by some unknown individual to falsify the historical record.
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