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Name and Date of birth
Full name Ernst Walfried Josef Wenzel Mach was born in Moravia, Austrian Empire which is now known as the Czech Republic. Date of birth February 18, 1838 - February 19, 1916.
He was initially inspired to pursue philosophy by his father when he wrote "Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics:” Throughout his life, he was also influenced by Helmholtz, Johann Herbart, and Christian Doppler. -
The Vienna Circle
Ernst continued to pursue his education until he received his doctorate in Physics from the University of Vienna. Soon after, he contributed time and dedication to what was known as The Vienna Circle. The Vienna Circle was highly invested in philosophical thought including empiricism and logical positivism and so was Mach. This is where he occupied the Chair for the Philosophy of Inductive Sciences. -
Mach Bands
He explains that light bands contribute to what we perceive and to optical illusions and argued that what we perceive is due to the stimuli that we receive. Mach added that this was the root of all life. He continued to pursue this further into what became known as the Gestalt Theory. -
Doppler Theory
Ernst Mach's first scientific contribution was to the Doppler Effect that had taken up interest by Christian Doppler in 1841and by 1885 Ernst had worked up the details of supersonic motion and is considered responsible for the Doppler Effect theory until this day. -
Gestalt Theory
The Gestalt Theory was based on the analysis of sensations and its' contribution to psychology. He argued that in order to gain experience it is important to have an initial exposure to such an event known as "a priori." This "priori" becomes the basis for recognition and experience and from there forth stems the root of an evolutionary process. -
Legacy
Mach passed away on February 19, 1916. His contributions to the sciences continue to thrive to this day. His theories on space and time inspired the young Albert Einstein. Below is a link to a short clip on Ernst Mach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEnttvW_ct8 -
Final thoughts
"But we must not forget that all things in the world are connected with one another and depend on one another, and that we ourselves and all our thoughts are also a part of nature. It is uterly beyond our power to measure the changes of things by time. Quite the contrary, time is an abstraction, at which we arrive by means of the change of things; made because we are not restricted to any one definite measure, all being interconnected." - Ernst Mach -
References
[https://www.famousscientists.org/ernst-mach/] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEnttvW_ct8] Uebel, Thomas, "Vienna Circle", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/vienna-circle/. Pojman, Paul, "Ernst Mach", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2020/entries/ernst-mach/.
