[en] The paper was presented at the European Conference on Particle Physics held in Budapest between the 4th and 9th July of 1977. A short review is given on the birth of the relativistic electron wave equation. After Schroedinger has shown the equivalence of his wave mechanics and the matrix mechanics of Heisenberg, a general transformation theory was developed by the author. This theory required a relativistic wave equation linear in delta/delta t. As the Klein--Gordon equation available at this time did not satisfy this condition the development of a new equation became necessary. The equation which was found gave the value of the electron spin and magnetic moment automatically. (D.P.)