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Birth of Ernst Mach
On this day physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach was born in Moravia, a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic. Later his family relocated to a farm in Untersiebenbrunn, Lower Austria where he began his studies at the University of Vienna (Pojman, Paul, Spring 2019 Edition). -
Invention of the Doppler Apparatus
Mach invented a tool that supported the Doppler shift theory first discovered in 1803 by physicist Christian Doppler. The tool was made with a six-foot tube with a whistle attached at one end and mounted in order to rotate across a vertical plane. Where the observer stood in the plane of the axis or the plane of rotation determined whether fluctuations in pitch would be noted, correlating to the tube’s rotation speed. (Pojman,Paul, Spring 2019 Edition). https://youtu.be/dc7l7Qqa8xk -
Mach Bands
The first series of “The Effect of the Spatial Distribution of the Light Stimulus on the Retina” was published and now known today as Mach Bands. Once seen as errors of judgement in the brain, Mach discovered the lateral inhibition in our sense organs and that our senses pre-process information before sending it to the brain. The only role our sensory organs play are transmitting sensations to the brain, where it is broken down to be translated. (Pojman, Paul, Spring 2019 Edition). -
Mechanics of Science
Mach’s Principle: forces are produced by its relative rotation with respect to the mass of the Earth and the other celestial bodies, and that inertia depends on other bodies for an accurate measurement of motion. This theory was later dubbed the “Mach’s Principle” by Albert Einstein in 1918 (Rothman n.d.). -Illustration by Tom Dunne. -
Speed of “Mach” (Sound)
Have you heard of the Mach number? Mach had the details of supersonic motion, along with high-speed photographic techniques mapped out. The Mach number is a ratio of speed of sound in the given medium to the speed of the projectile. The discovery proved to be extremely essential to study of aerodynamics. For example, an aircraft's number is equal to the velocity of the object relative to the fluid divided by the velocity of sound in that fluid (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019). -
Contribution to Philosophy of Science
Up until his death in February 19, 1916 Ernst Mach made major contributions to physics, philosophy, and physiological psychology, and is best known for his influence upon the Vienna Circle. His beliefs were the mind does not direct the creation of ideas, but rather the selection. Furthermore, he believed that resistance to change is expected and can be both necessary and a hindrance for scientific revolution (Pojman, Paul, Spring 2019 Edition).
