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CHAPTER 11

Return to Vienna

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Serious problcms dcvc!opcd in Mach’s laboratory in Pragiic during ihe lato i88os and carly 1890S. First, thc total numbcr of students in the philosophical faculty in thc German Univcrsitv fcll to under a hun-dred with only a fraction of this meager numbcr interested in physics.¹ Sccond, Education Ministry financial support for Mach’s cxpcriraental work dcciincd accordingly.² And third, Mach’s laboratory staff slowly degenerated into an insuberdinate, ineflicicnt, and disputatious group.

Franz Majek, who had worked in Mach’s laboratory sińce 1868, bc-camc a drunkard. Out of respect for Hajck’s carlicr accomplishments in constructing uscful laboratory cąuipment and bccausc of liajck’s large family, Mach retained him³ Gustav Jaumann (1863-1924) scrved as Mach’s laboratory Aushilfsassistent from 1886 to 1891 and as Assis-tent from 1891 to 1893.⁴ Two of his responsibilities were to put together and prcparc cquipment for lcctures and student use and to manage correspondencc with companies that provided cquipment and other laboratory materiał. Mc soon considcrcd these tasks onerous and nc-glected them."

During the late i88os Mach’s eldest son, Ludwig, took ovcr most of thc laboratory responsibilities of both Jaumann and Majek.¹' Indced, be gradually became thc most activc person in Mach’s institute during thc last ycars of his father’s residcncc in Praguc. Jaumann reactcd to Ludwig Machs laboratory work by “insulting and slandering him." ¹ Ludwigs intervcntion was surcly an attempt to correct a bad situation, but it may also havc hclpcd to make the situation worsc by aggravat-ing already straincd personal relations. In anv case, Ernst Mach wcl comcd thc assistance and defended his son's behavior.

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