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Birth date
Ernest Mach was born in Moravia. -
Early Life
At around two years old Mach's family moved Untersiebenbrunn, Lower Austria. Growing up Mach attended a school in Moravia eventually graduating at 17. After Graduating in 1855 he attended the University of Vienna. He would begin his studies in mathematics and physics. A short time after graduation Mach made very little money giving lectures and teaching other students. During this time is when he got into physiology. -
Physiology 1860-1861
Johannes Müller had started a physiology school in Berlin, due to political reforms in 1848 the school moved to Vienna. Mach attended this school sometime after his graduation in 1860. Even though he had a degree in physics he attended as medical faculty. In total Mach took 22 hours of physiology, chemistry and anatomy. Here he would begin teaching physics for med students and developed his first textbook, Compendium der Physik für Mediciner. -
Doppler Theory
Christian Doppler in 1841 discovered that sound can change frequency as it moves toward an observer. This became one of Mach's first scientific contributions. -
Influences 1864
Mach had many influences on his work. Some to name were Johann Herbart, Franz Lott, Fechner, Ewald Hering, and many more. When Mach was appointed at Graz he decided he wanted to switch chairs from mathematics to physics where he would encounter Fechner. Fechner was a physicist, philosopher, and psychologist. Mach became discouraged working with Fechner because of his criticism. -
Mach Bands
Also while at Graz he came across Ewald Hering. Hering was a German physiologist who did much research into color vision. When Mach was writing his famous articles on Mach bands he refers to Hering. Mach Bands was published in 1865. Mach bands are the effect of spacial distribution of light stimulus on the retinal. Mach became credited for discovering lateral inhibition in sense organs. Before this discovery optical illusions were just known to be a lack of judgement. -
Speed of Sound
Mach's name is given to him to represent the speed of sound. Mach numbers are not a specific number or actual speed, Mach represents a medium, sense objects traveling through different densitys. Bullets and artillery in the 1860s were found to travel the speed of sound due to second "boom" as it traveled. The second boom beams it has broken the sound barrier. After The Declaration of St Petersburg was signed to ban a new bullet that exploded that exploded on impact, Mach investigated. -
Speed of Sound continued
By this time Mach studied and worked on supersonic motion and created photographic techniques to capture his work. The Mach number is the ratio of the object to the speed of sound. He was able to complete his work due to the technological advances and works of science during his time. -
Date of Death
Mach is best known for his work in physics but also his many books on his work, it is not be misunderstood that he should only be well known for his work in physics but all of science. He has also studied space, maybe more than physics. In physics his work will never be forgotten, his work led Einstein to become an important part of history as well. He also has a famous critique to Newtonian absolute space and time. Mach's work is a paradigm for modern day physics. -
Short educational Video
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Sources
Frank, Phillip, 1917. “The Importance of Ernst Mach’s Philosophy for Our Times,” in R. Cohen & R. Seeger, Ernst Mach—Physicist and Philosopher, Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1970 Pojman, Paul, "Ernst Mach", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)