14 Facts About Ernst Mach

Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach was an Austrian physicist and philosopher, who contributed to the physics of shock waves.

Ernst Mach was born in Chrlice, Moravia, Austrian Empire.

Ernst Mach later became a socialist and an atheist, but his theory and life was sometimes compared to Buddhism.

Up to the age of 14, Ernst Mach was educated at home by his parents.

Ernst Mach then entered a Gymnasium in Kromeriz, where he studied for three years.

Ernst Mach described how when a bullet or shell moved faster than the speed of sound, it created a compression of air in front of it.

Ernst Mach became well known for his philosophy, developed in close interplay with his science.

Ernst Mach defended a type of phenomenalism recognizing only sensations as real.

In 1898, Ernst Mach survived a paralytic stroke, and in 1901, he retired from the University of Vienna and was appointed to the upper chamber of the Austrian Parliament.

Ernst Mach contributed to cosmology the hypothesis known as Ernst Mach's principle.

From 1895 to 1901, Ernst Mach held a newly created chair for "the history and philosophy of the inductive sciences" at the University of Vienna.

Ernst Mach originally saw scientific laws as summaries of experimental events, constructed for the purpose of making complex data comprehensible, but later emphasized mathematical functions as a more useful way to describe sensory appearances.

Ernst Mach's positivism influenced many Russian Marxists, such as Alexander Bogdanov.

Ernst Mach had a direct influence on the Vienna Circle philosophers and logical positivism in general.