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Birth of Ernst Mach
Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach was born on February 18, 1838 in Brno, Moravia, Austrian Empire but is now known as the Czechia Republic. Mach was homeschooled up to the age of fourteen, where he the was entered into a gymnasium. There, Mach would study for three years in preparation for university. In 1855, Mach became a student at the University of Vienna where he studied physics and took one semester of medical physiology. in 1860, Mach was able to then received his doctorate in physics. -
The Mach Bands
During the 1860's, Mach discovered the physiological phenomena that till this day is known as the Mach's Bands. The Mach Bands show us how our brain and eyes work together to create what we see around us. This discovering helped the scientific community further understand the relationship between how we are able to perceive things and the communications that our eyes have with the brain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZEn7QUqKIM -
The Mach number
In 1887 Mach made another unprecedented scientific discovery that we use till this day. This discovery is known as the Mach Number and it helps us calculate the speed of a sound in a medium. In other words, Mach found a way to calculate the speed of an object with the speed of sound. Of course like any other mathematical process there are variables. In this case, to calculate the Mach number of an airplane you have to take into account the environment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntridyss88Q -
Mach's Principle in General Relativity
In 1893, Mach presented a principle that stated the inertial force experienced by an object has to do with the quantity and distribution of matter in the larger scale such as the universe. Although these ideas weren't meant to be a principle, Albert Einstein was hugely inspired by Mach's work making his hypothesis into a well known principle that is still taught till this day when learning about general relativity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPEwkMHRjZU&t=29s