Ricci curvature
Tensor de Ricci
- Date
- c. 1900-1903 · confidence medium
- Place
- Padua, Veneto, Italy
- Credited to
- Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
A symmetric rank-two tensor measuring how a curved space locally differs from flat space, obtained by contracting the Riemann curvature tensor; developed by Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro and, years later, fundamental to Einstein's field equations of general relativity.
What it led to
- Einstein's field equations (general relativity)
- Comparison theorems in Riemannian geometry (Myers's theorem)
- Ricci flow, used in the proof of the Poincaré conjecture