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Early Life
Ernst Mach was born Feburary 2, 1838 to Jan Neopmuk Mach who was a tutor. He was homeschooled up until he was fourteen years old which he attended a school in Kromeriz. He continued his education at the University of Vienna in Vienna, Austria where he studied physics and mathmatics. -
Mach's Bands
After earning his doctorate in physics in 1860 he did his research on "Electrical Charge and Induction". He discovered what is known today as Mach's bands (1865) which is when the human eye sees bright and dark bands with different illumination. He claimed it was an optical illusion based on the contrast perception. -
Doppler Effect
While Mach was a mathematics professor at Graz, Prague and Vienna he focused his work on the properties of waves while in light. He worked with Peter Salcher, a photographer and he was able to catch a photo of shock waves that was created by a supersonic bullet. This discovery led to the future designs of missiles, firearms, and airplanes. -
Mach's Principle
Mach published "the Science of Mechanics" which conflicted against Newton's theory of space and time. It became influential in Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Mach's name was immortalized with it becoming the measurement for the projectile of the speed of the sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEnttvW_ct8 -
Final Years of Ernst Mach
Ernst Mach suffered a severe stroke (1898) that left him paralyzed. He left the University of Vienna in 1901 from being a Chair in the History and Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences at Vienna. He then became a member of the Austrian Parliament. His health rapidly declined so he moved in with his son. He never stopped writing about various topics in philosophy and science until he eventually died in 1916 near Munich, Germany. -
References
Pojman, P. (2019, March 3). Ernst Mach. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ernst-mach/ Self-portrait by Ernst Mach (1886). The Public Domain Review. (n.d.). https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/self-portrait-by-ernst-mach-1886/