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The Birth of Ernst Mach
Ernst Mach was born on February 18th 1838 in Moravia and soon after moved to a farm located in lower Austria. -
Mach's first important scientific contribution
Mach's first important scientific contribution was in relations to to the recently discovered "Doppler Theory". "Mach devised a simple apparatus that demonstrated that the Doppler effect was real, at least for sound. A six-foot tube with a whistle at one end was mounted so as to rotate in a vertical plane. When the listener stood in the plane of the axis of rotation no changes in pitch could be heard." -
Mach Bands
In 1865 Mach published, “On the effect of the spatial distribution of the light stimulus on the retina,” this was one of the first articles in the series on what we know today about Mach bands. This article provided a "strong argument against direct representationalism theories of perception. There simply is no isomorphism between reality and appearance. But Mach took this even further, embedding it within his evolutionary Fechnerian framework."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sItlLNhhiLg -
Mach Speed
Around 1885, Mach had worked out the details of supersonic motion, while also achieving a way to develop high speed photographic techniques. "In the late 1860s developments in gun and artillery technology produced projectiles that traveled faster than sound vibrations. This was realized over a period of time as two effects were investigated—a second loud ‘boom’, distinct from the usual one of the explosion, as well as a different type of wound. It was the latter that began Mach’s interest." -
Machs Death
Mach unfortunately suffered a stroke in 1898 and then later retired in 1901. He passed away near Munich in 1916.