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Legacy of Erns Waldfried

By Colleen Morse

  • Early Life

    Early Life
    On February 18, 1838, Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach was born in Chirlitz, today a part of Brno in the Czech Republic.

  • Education

    Education
    Mach entered at the University of Vienna in 1855 to pursue a degree in mathematics, philosophy, and physics. In 1860, he was awarded a PhD in physics for his thesis, "On electrical charge and induction."

  • Career

    Career
    He received a job offer in 1864 to teach mathematics at the University of Graz in Austria. Due to his outstanding skills as an experimenter and the invention of precise measuring devices, he changed roles two years later and became their physics professor.

  • University of Prague

    University of Prague
    Mach spent the following 28 years at the Charles University in Prague where he held the position of chair of experimental physics, where he published more than one hundred scientific articles. During his time there, he carried out research in a wide range of fields, including wave motion, stereoscopy, interference & spectra in optics, and retinal stimulation.
    Podolsky, J. Ernst Mach in Prague. Available at: https://utf.mff.cuni.cz/Relativity/Mach.htm (Accessed: April 22, 2023).

  • Marriage

    Marriage
    In 1867, Ernst Mach married Ludovica Marussig in Graz. They had five children, four sons and one daughter.

  • Discover of non-acoustic function of inner ear

    Discover of non-acoustic function of inner ear
    A non-acoustic function of the inner ear that helped regulate human equilibrium was discovered independently by Mach and doctor Josef Breuer in 1873.
    Mach-Breuer theory. Available at: https://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/3246.html (Accessed: April 22, 2023).

  • Accomplishments

    Accomplishments
    Mach made numerous contributions to psychology and physiology, including his foreshadowing of Gestalt Theory. In his 1886 book "Analysis of Sensations," Mach provided the foundation for this theory.
    Pojman, P. (2019) Ernst Mach, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ernst-mach/ (Accessed: April 22, 2023).

  • Accomplishments Continue

    Accomplishments Continue
    His most significant work, "The Science of Mechanics: A Critical and Historical Account of Its Development" (1893), describes the foundations of mechanics and provides a window into his method of scientific thinking.
    Pojman, P. (2019) Ernst Mach, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ernst-mach/ (Accessed: April 22, 2023).
  • Period: to

    Retirement

    Mach returned to the University of Vienna in 1895 and took a chair teaching inductive philosophy. In 1901, he declared his retirement.

  • Death

    Death
    Mach experienced a stroke in 1897 that left the right side of his body disabled.