> Do you think that Minkowski was important in the development of GR? Why, specifically? Minkowski came up with the concept of spacetime as a 4-dimensional geo

> Do you think that Minkowski was important in the development of GR? Why, specifically? Minkowski came up with the concept of spacetime as a 4-dimensional geometric object. That was a crucial insight required for the development of GR: just take this geometric object, which was flat in SR, and allow it to be curved. IIRC Einstein himself, who initially was dismissive of Minkowski's idea, later changed his mind and recognized its importance, and said so in a number of his writings about relativity. Unfortunately, Minkowski died the year after he came up with his idea, so he never got to see where it led.