Ernst Mach
Physicist and philosopher whose positivism influenced the Vienna Circle.
Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach was an Austrian physicist and philosopher whose work reshaped the understanding of shock waves and influenced the philosophy of science. Born in Chrlice, Moravia (then part of the Austrian Empire), he was initially educated at home by his father, a university graduate who had tutored a noble family. Mach later studied physics and medical physiology at the University of Vienna, earning a doctorate in physics. His early research examined the Doppler effect in both optics and acoustics. After teaching at the University of Graz, he became a professor of experimental physics at Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, where he remained for nearly three decades. Mach’s most famous physical contribution involved describing and photographing shock waves created by projectiles moving faster than sound. Using schlieren photography with his son Ludwig, he captured images of the invisible conical shock waves, establishing the foundation for what is now called the Mach number—the ratio of an object’s speed to the speed of sound. He also made significant discoveries in psychology and physiology, including Mach bands (a visual illusion) and the inner ear’s role in balance. Philosophically, Mach defended phenomenalism, arguing that only sensations are real, which led him to reject the existence of atoms. His criticism of Newton’s concepts of space and time anticipated aspects of relativity. Politically, he was a socialist and atheist, critical of colonialism, and served in the Austrian House of Lords while declining a title of nobility.
- field
- Physics, Philosophy
- nationality
- Austrian
Lore & Background
The source provides limited direct information about Mach himself, but it establishes his role as a key influence on the Vienna Circle. Mach held the chair of philosophy of the inductive sciences at the University of Vienna, a position later taken by Moritz Schlick in 1922. The early Vienna Circle members—Philipp Frank, Hans Hahn, and Otto Neurath—met from 1907 onward and "regarded Mach's positivist philosophy of science as having great importance for general intellectual life." They sought to "retain the most essential points of Mach's positivism, especially his stand against the misuse of metaphysics in science." The Ernst Mach Society, founded in 1928 with Schlick as chairman, aimed to spread a "scientific world conception" through public lectures. The Vienna Circle's manifesto, published in 1929, was titled "Wissenschaftliche Weltauffassung. Der Wiener Kreis" (The Scientific Conception of the World. The Vienna Circle). Mach's ideas were supplemented by those of Henri Poincaré and Pierre Duhem, as well as the logical investigations of authors like Couturat, Schröder, and Hilbert.
Reader's Guide
Mach's significance for the Vienna Circle is primarily philosophical. His positivism—emphasizing sensory experience and rejecting metaphysics—was a foundation for the Circle's logical empiricism. The early group discussed Mach's work alongside that of other thinkers such as Franz Brentano, Alexius Meinong, Hermann von Helmholtz, Heinrich Hertz, Edmund Husserl, Sigmund Freud, Bertrand Russell, Alfred North Whitehead, Vladimir Lenin, and Gottlob Frege. The Ernst Mach Society, active from 1928 until its dissolution by the Austrofascist regime after the Austrian Civil War in 1934, provided a public platform for the Circle's ideas. Mach's chair at the University of Vienna, which Schlick later occupied, symbolized this intellectual lineage.
Did You Know?
- The chair of philosophy of the inductive sciences at the University of Vienna was formerly held by Ernst Mach and partly by Boltzmann.
- The Vienna Circle's public profile was provided by the Ernst Mach Society (Verein Ernst Mach), founded in 1928.
- The early Vienna Circle members regarded Mach's positivist philosophy of science as having great importance for general intellectual life.
- Mach's positivism was supplemented by the French philosophy of science of Henri Poincaré and Pierre Duhem in the early Vienna Circle discussions.
- The Ernst Mach Society was dissolved for political reasons by the Schuschnigg regime after the Austrian Civil War in 1934.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Ernst Mach?
Ernst Mach was an Austrian physicist and philosopher born in 1838 who became one of the most influential thinkers at the intersection of science and philosophy. He is best known for his experimental work on shock waves and his critical approach to established scientific assumptions.
What is the Mach number?
The Mach number is a dimensionless ratio that compares the speed of an object to the speed of sound in its surrounding medium. It is named after Ernst Mach, who pioneered the photography and study of supersonic shock waves in the late 19th century.
How did Ernst Mach influence Einstein's relativity?
Mach's philosophical critique of Newton's absolute concepts of space and time pushed Einstein to rethink the foundations of mechanics. Einstein himself acknowledged that Mach's ideas about the relativity of motion were a key intellectual stepping stone toward special and general relativity.
What is the Mach principle?
The Mach principle is the idea that the inertia of a body is determined by the distribution of all matter in the universe rather than by absolute space. It originated from Mach's writings and later became a guiding concept in Einstein's formulation of general relativity.
What was Ernst Mach's role in philosophy of science?
Mach developed a philosophical framework called empirio-criticism, which argued that only directly observable phenomena should form the basis of scientific theory. His ideas helped shape logical positivism in the early 20th century and also influenced the American pragmatist tradition.
More in Scientists & Mathematicians 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record