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Birth
Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach was born in (what was then) Chirlitz-Turas, Moravia, Austrian Empire (now part of the Czech Republic) to his parents, Johann Mach and Josephine Lanhaus. -
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University - Student
Having been home-schooled for most of his life, and attended high school at the Gymnasium in Kashmier, Czech Republic, he was enrolled into the University of Vienna in 1855 at age 17. Mach was as a student of physics. in the year 1860, he earned his Doctorates in physics and began teaching at the university as a professor of mechanics and physics. -
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University of Vienna
From 1860 until 1864, Mach taught mechanics and physics at the University of Vienna. During this time, he researched the Doppler Effect in Optics. -
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University of Graz
From 1864 until 1867, he was a professor of mathematics, and physics at the University of Graz in Austria. After starting his teaching in Graz, he switched his research focus to the physiology and psychology of sensation. -
Mach Bands
In 1865, Mach published the first of many works on the senses of the human body. Before his publications, it was the belief of many that our body parts were just receptors sending signals for the brain to process, and anything misguided in the perceptions were the brain's fault. Using the example of optics, Mach theorized that faults within our sense receptors themselves and how they process information were the starting point for these "optical illusions" https://youtu.be/4ZEn7QUqKIM -
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Charles University
From 1867 until 1895, Mach worked at Charles University in Prague as the chair of Experimental Physics. He went on to publish hundreds of works during this time on a multitude of subjects ranging from science philosophy to advanced mathematics of sound compression at different velocities. -
The Science of Mechanics
In 1883, Mach published his first of his notable works known as the Science of Mechanics: A Critical and Historical Exposition of its Principles. An updated version of his first works released 10 years prior; his Science of Mechanics was the major explanation for his beliefs of what science is, and what his earlier works meant for mankind beyond the blunt numbers of mathematics. -
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University of Vienna - The Return
From 1895 until his retirement in 1901, Mach returned to the University of Vienna where he taught as the professor for inductive philosophy. -
The Analysis of Sensation -Mach's Principle
Having already put out 3 editions of his ideas on sensations, his most important and final addiction came out in 1897. Included what is now called, "Mach's Principle." This is idea that a body at rest will stay at rest, and a body in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an external force. This concept that all bodies in the universe are connected and interacting with each other at all times from all distances had a large influence on Albert Einstein's General Relativity. -
Death
On February 2, 1916, Ernst Mach passed away in his son's home in near Munich, Austria. He left behind a legacy in the study of
scientific philosophy and acoustical physics that has influenced the some of the greatest minds and fields of the 20th century. -
Works Cited
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Ernst Mach.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 13 Apr. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Ernst-Mach.
“Charles University.” Nook, 2018, nook.marlboro.edu/public/academics/study_abroad/exchange/charles-university.
Fee, Russ. “Mach Bands.” Spatial Frequency 1 | Welcome to the University of Calgary, 2018, www.ucalgary.ca/pip369/mod3/brightness/machbands. -
Works Cited - Continued 1
Martinnen, Arto. 2018, quotefancy.com/quote/1307066/Ernst-Mach-The-history-of-the-development-of-mechanics-is-quite-indispensable-to-a-full.
Pojman, Paul, "Ernst Mach", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2011/entries/ernst-mach/.
Simons, Olaf. “Ernst Mach.” Positivism, 2013, positivists.org/blog/archives/905.
Stewart, Doug. “Ernst Mach.” Famous Scientists, 2018, www.famousscientists.org/ernst-mach/ -
Works Cited - Continued 2
Simons, Olaf. “Ernst Mach.” Positivism, 2013, positivists.org/blog/archives/905.
Stewart, Doug. “Ernst Mach.” Famous Scientists, 2018, www.famousscientists.org/ernst-mach/
Studio, LZM. “Mach Bands and Our Perception of Values.” YouTube, YouTube, 25 Aug. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZEn7QUqKIM.
