Who were Marcel Grossmann & Michele Besso?

Who were Marcel Grossmann & Michele Besso?
A century ago, in November 1915, Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity in four short papers in the proceedings of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin. The landmark theory is often presented as the work of a lone genius. In fact, the physicist received a great deal of help from friends and colleagues, most of whom never rose to prominence and have been forgotten.

In my opinion the crucial help that A. Einstein received while developing the theory of general relativity was from his old time friend & classmate  Marcel Grossmann. He was an accomplished mathematician who helped Einstein with the difficult mathematical methods of general relativity especially in his later years. So he deserves an equal credit as Einstein. 

Besso was an engineer, imaginative and somewhat disorganized, and a caring and lifelong friend to Einstein.

Nature covers the story of how their insights were woven into the final version of the theory:
http://www.nature.com/news/history-einstein-was-no-lone-genius-1.18793

Photo:
Marcel Grossmann (left) and Michele Besso (right), university friends of Albert Einstein (centre), both made important contributions to general relativity.

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