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Ernst Mach
My timeline is on the life and the contributions to the philosophy of science by Ernst Mach. -
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Early life
Ernst Mach was born in the region of Moravia within the Czech Republic on February 18th, 1838. In the year 1840 his family moved to live on a farm in Untersiebenbrunn, Lower Austria. He would go on to attend an Austrian gymnasium in Moravia, the place of his birth, graduating at the age of seventeen. -
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Picking up Physiology
Mach entered the University of Vienna as a student of mathematics and physics in 1855. After he had graduated in the year 1860, he stayed at Vienna where he would support himself by giving lectures. The classes were paid for by the students, so he made very little money. It was in these years that Mach became interested in Physiology. -
Early Published Articles
He went on to teach a course in physics for medical students in the year 1861 which led to the development of his textbook, Compendium der Physik für Mediciner. He also published his first article psychophysics, Über das Sehen von Lagen und Winkeln durch die Bewegung des Auges, where he studied the relationship between tension in the eye muscles and perception of form. -
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Mach Speed
In 1864 Mach received an appointment in mathematics at Graz. For the first time he had the money and freedom to carry out his own experiments. In 1866 he exchanged his math chair for one in physics. While at Graz he carried out his important work on Mach Bands. Mach’s name is, of course, associated with the speed of sound, where Mach 1 means the speed of sound in a given medium. -
Supersonic Motion
By 1885 Mach had worked out the details of supersonic motion, along the way developing high-speed photographic techniques. Most importantly for engineers, Mach Number is the ratio of the speed of the object to the speed of sound in the given medium; his work is essential to modern aerodynamics, and through it the word ‘Mach’ has bizarrely entered into popular culture as an icon for razors, sound systems, fighter pilots, and high speed fuels. -
Mach Biography
Machs Biography (https://youtu.be/W-CSsl0ZGbM)