Talk:Quadrupole formula

1916 or 1918?
The article says it was discovered in 1916 but the follwoing reference says it was in 1918:

Einstein, A., "The quadrupole formula." Sitzungsberichte, Preussische Akademie der Wisserschaften, 154, (1918)

can someone confirm this? Mdob (talk) 10:59, 19 February 2016 (UTC)


 * I confirm this information. In 1916 Einstein discovered the (theoretical) existence of gravitational waves, but it was in 1918 that he derived the quadrupole formula. Source: Emparan, R. "Iluminando el lado oscuro del universo", Ariel (2018) and also the above reference. --BroOkWiki (talk) 22:04, 1 August 2020 (UTC)

explanation missing
For someone who does not yet know the formula the formulation "spatial part of the trace reversed perturbation of the metric, i.e. the gravitational wave" it of little help: you need to have enough understanding of manifolds to understand the meaning of "perturbation of the metric" and of "trace reversed". And even then it is unlikely that the relation to waves ("i.e. the gravitational wave") can be seen. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jyyb (talk • contribs) 10:14, 28 March 2021 (UTC)