IMG30

Ernst Mach

Mach ro Poppcr-Lynkcus in 1862. The friendship immcdiately took hołd. Joscf Popper (“Lynkcus” was a literary pscudonym referring to the mythical hclmsman of the Argonant) soon becamc Mach’s first and for a long limę his only known philosophical ally, and this in spite of the fact that both men hnd vcry different pcrsonalilies. Mach was normally modest, carcful, and unemotional, while Popper was noto-riously enthusiastic, imaginativc, and polcmical. Noncthclcss, they shared numerous interests and both men madę significant contributions to a varicty of fields.

Joscf Poppcr_(i 838-1921) was Jewish and graduated from a Tcchnica! Hochschulc in Prague bcforc they werc rccognizcd as acadcmically equal to univcrsitics. Ovcrcoming numerous obstaclcs, howevcr, hc becamc a succcssful invcntor and original thcorctician. Hc is perhaps best known today for his idcas of a guarantccd annual wagę and gov-; ernment labor scrvicc for the unemployed. Hc nlso wrotc books and articlcs on physics, mathematies, acronautics, machinę technology, VoI-taire, anti-Semitism, Tolstoy. Goethe, human rights, and individualism.

Popper was probably rcsponsiblc for extending Mach’s interest in social reform, in Voltairc, and in the Enlightenmcnt. Two of Poppcr’s better-known admirers from a latcr period werc Albert Einstein and Theodor von Kirman.

Mach’s sccond major friendship began as follows:

I becamc acquainted with Kulkę, who was then a journalist and musie critic for a large newspaper, in 1863, and quite by accidcnt. In the Cafe Griensteid! somc musicians, who werc sitting at a ncarby tablc, werc arguing ovcr a mysterious and bclovcd topie: What werc the rcal character-istics of musical tones? Somcone obscrved my interest and drew me into the discussion. I took Kulke’s side, who had rcprcscntcd his vicw$ in a elear and sober way. From then on we saw cach other alraost daily, umil al>out a ycar later when my profession took mc to Graz. . . . Our friendship lastcd for 34 ycars until Kulkc’s dcalh on March 20, 1897. I ncvcr camc to Vienna without looking up Kulkę and joining his circlc of friends, cvery member of which knew how to unitę a chccrful conccption of life with scrious goals, and who all becamc my friends.²⁰

Eduard Kulkę (1831-1897) was also of Jewish^anccstry as werc many of Mach’s “freethinking" friends. Hc was known chiefly as a musie critic and theorist and as the author of On the Tran sfor mation of MeloJy G884) and Critiquc of the Philosophy of Hranty (1906). Under the influence of Darwin’s idcas, Mach cncouraged Kulkę to

writc a book on how thcrc was also a “survival of the fittcst” in musie. Kulke obliged and published a work in 1868 with which, however, he was not satisfied.²¹

A fragment from an undated aniele by Ludwig Karpath during the 1930S has supplied the information missing in Mach’s own account, namcly, the promincncc of his own role in Kulkc’s group.

A elose relative has told me a lot about a Vicnna coffcchousc which I can no longcr remember, the "Cafe Elefant,” which was locatcd in a narrow passage bctwcen Stcphcn’s Place and the Graben.

Evcry day, scholars, artists, and doctcrs of mcdicinc and law would gather together. The rcgulars [Stammgacsten] includcd such latcr famous pcoplc as Professor Mach, Lynkcus (Popper), a group of Wagneroriented musicians: Peter Cornclius, Heinrich Porges, the musie critic Graf, the composcr Goldtnark, and many others.

Pcoplc wandered in around 2 p.m. and stayed until 2 in the morning, that is, somc werc always leasing while others werc arrising. Unbrokcn wit and argument on philosophical, scicntific, and artistic matters kept the discussion sharp and stimulating.

To a ccrtain cxtcnt the young Dozent Hrnst Mach presided ovcr the gathering. I lis profound understanding and reflcctivc manner impressed evcryonc. According to my rclamc he was one of the first to ocrupy him-sclf dccply with the rcccntly published work of I Iclmholtz on tonę perccp-tions about which hc formed many interesting and instructisc conclusions.²²

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Ii is possible, ho\vcvcr, that Mach was not making friends in the right placcs. So long as Von Ettinghausen was in active charge of the Physical Institutc all went well. Indeed, in 1861/1862 Mach’$ former teacher cven becamc Rcctor of the univcrsity, but this favorable situa-tion camc to a rather abrupt and uncxpcctcd end. In 1862, the sixty-six-ycar-old Von Ettinghausen becamc ill. An acting head of the Institutc was nccded, somcone who if hc did well might be in linę to get both a univcrsity chair and the Institute job pcrmancntly. The leading candidates for the temporary post werc all privatdozcnts at the ln-Stitut. The thrcc with the best chan ces werc loscf Stefan, Ernst Mach, and Edmund Reitlinger. Hut Rcitlinger’s hcalth was already failing. This lcft Stefan and Mach.

On the face of it, Stefan had the morę imposing crcdentials. He was tlircc ycars older. Mach was only twenty-four. Stefan had already bcen

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