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Introduction to Ernst Mach
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Birthday to death day
Ernst Mach was born in Moravia, Czech Republic. Mach held many positions such as lecturer, professor, and Head of History and Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences at Vienna. Mach suffered a stroke in 1898, retired in 1901, and died near Munich in 1916. -
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Early Life
Mach had an interest in math, physics, and eventually physiology. At the University of Vienna, Mach took physiology, chemistry, and anatomy. Mach earned his PhD in Physics and in 1861 and he taught physics for medical students and eventually authored his textbook "Compendium der Physik für Mediciner." -
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Mach's later life
In 1864 he was offered a position as professor of mathematics at the University of Graz, Austria. Two years later he changed roles and became a professor of physics. Mach’s interest had now turned to the new discipline of psychophysics. Here he discovered the physiological optical illusion that came to be known as “Mach’s bands" which are illusions caused by contrast perception in the human eye. In 1867 Mach was appointed as chair of Experimental Physics at the Charles University in Prague. -
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Tenure at Charles University in Prague
Mach's tenure lasted 28 years. He published over 100 scientific papers. He conducted many areas of research during his tenure including retinal stimuli, stereoscopy, auditory perception, optical experiments on interference & spectra and wave motion. In 1873, independently of each other Mach and physician Josef Breuer discovered a non-acoustic function of the inner ear which helped control human balance. -
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Tenure at Charles University in Prague cont.
Mach also developed "Mach's principle during this time. It's stated that he phenomenon of inertia also assumes that all of the masses in the universe are somehow connected. Mach’s inertial theories were named by Einstein as one of the influences for his theories of relativity. -
Sources
Ernst Mach - Biography, Facts and Pictures. www.famousscientists.org/ernst-mach/. Pojman, Paul. “Ernst Mach.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2019, plato.stanford.edu/entries/ernst-mach/.