-
Happy Birthday
Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach was born in Chrlice, Moravia, (now the Czech Republic). His father worked as a tutor for the royal family of his country. It seems that Ernst was destined for academic greatness from the beginning. -
Starting in University
After many years of homeschooling, Mach became a student at the University of Vienna in 1855. There he primarily studied physics, and medical physiology for one semester. -
Doctor Mach
After 5 years of Attending university, Ernst finally received his doctorate in physics. -
Mach Bands
Mach bands is an optical illusion that was found to exaggerate the contrast between the edges of differing shades of gray when the edges come into contact (Kingdom). This illusion improved the understanding of edge-detection in human vision. Attached is a video to better explain the concept.
Link text -
Ears?
Mach discovered how the sense of balance functioned by pinpointing that the information that the brain receives is created by the movement of the fluid in the semicircular canals of the inner ear. It had been previously discovered that the sense of balance was based in the semicircular canals, but nobody was sure how. -
Supersonic
Mach and his fellow physicist-photographer, Peter Salcherit, published their research paper on supersonic fluid mechanics. Their research described the sound effects during the supersonic motion of a projectile (Mach). They also confirmed the existence of shock waves. With the help of his colleague, they even managed to photograph the phenomenon and confirm the conical shape of the waves. The historic picture of the super sonic picture is attached to this event. -
Retirement
After many years of teaching he retired from the University of Vienna, and was appointed to the upper chamber of the Austrian parliament. -
Goodnight Sweet Prince
One day after his 78th birthday, Dr. Ernst Mach passed away in his sons home in Munich, Germany.