IMG92

Ernst Mach

Two undated storics, rcfcrring to cvcnts in Machs insiitutc during thc carly 1890S, havc suggcstcd an evolutinn toward confrontation and violcncc. Georg Alcxandcr Pick (1859-1929), who had carlicr bccn Machs Attshilfsassistent and was now an Extraordinarius professor i_n Praguc, bccamc involvcd in a bitter pcrsonal conflict with I łajek.* Perhaps thc old instrument-maker, who had won prizes for his work at thc Praguc World Exhibition twenty ycars before, resented thc forrner student and assistant who had now becomc so important. Mach, howcvcr, refuscd to admonish cithcr Pick or jaumann openly, prób* ably becausc borh wcrc philosophical allies.

The sccond incidcnt had a humorous sicie. In a Ictter to an unkuown biochgcehrtcr Herr Doctor in his institutc, Mach refused to allow a sword duel betwcen laboratory personncl.¹' He cvcn threatened pun-ishment if it took place. Clcarly, Machs laboratory had bccomc a painful place to work. In retrospcct, Mach had shown by his actions, or rather rcluctancc to act, that hc could be kincl and indulgent to his cmployccs. It is possiblc hc had bccomc 100 lenient.

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Joscf Stefan, founder of thc Vicnna school of physical atomism and a long-timc opponent of Machs philosophical idcas, suffered a hcart attack on Deccmbcr 18, 1892, and died on January 7, 1893. One wcck latcr, Eduard Krischek wrotc to Mach: “Becausc of thc slight warmth of your rcciprocal relations you scarccly necd to reproach yourself f for not attending thc funcral].”¹⁰ Stefan had stcod in thc way of Mach’s possiblc return to Vienna in thc same fashion as Briickc, thc old friend of Helmholtz, had blockcd Hering’s return.¹¹ But as things turned out, Stcfan’s death did not changc anything.

Vienna physicists were agreed that Ludwig Boltzmann should oc-cupy Stefans chair at thc University of Vicnna. Mach had advocatcs in thc faculty, cspccially Gustav Tschcrmak (1836-1927), a prominent Vicnna mincralogist, but Mach did not cncouragc his supporters and they wcrc outvotcd.¹² The negotiations with Boltzmann, who was then tcachirig at Munich, dragged on for a ycar. The peripatetie atomist took thc post in 1894 and was soon givcn thc Imperial titlc of Hofrath, or court councillor. Boltzmann s latcst triumph Icft Mach morę de-pressed than cvcr.

In thc winter of 1893/1894 Mach was scriously ill with influenza.

Hc also declmcd «u employ any laboratory ussistarrts for Ora, u„ivcr-S„y scmeslcr. Most l.kcly „ was during this blcak per,od Ora, hc wrotc his unhappy as, testament" remarks about his former employees We havc already drscussed h,s critrcsms of Wosyka, Ha,ck, and W mann (sec chap. Herc are somc addidonal eomments by Mach about thc last gentleman:

I wish, in case of my dcath, that thc Institutc no, bc givcn ,o laumann a, leas, no, .mmcd.atcly. I wrsh, tha, bcforchand, .omconc cl,c Wmć acqua,nted with ,t. aunrann has for the las, ,en ycars, so ,o say, worked as a guest. that rs, for hmrself, and for tha, drawn a salary. During the hrst fcw ycars I rcqucs,cd vcry litOe of him as an assistant, and then nodr-mg at all. On the contrary, [ was continually harring to defend myself agamst his tcndency toward cxtravagant behavior and disorder.

Iłów irrcsponsiblc Jaumanns bchavior was can best bc judged by thosc who know how hard I havc tried to promotc his wclfarc.¹³

lii

Eightccn nincty-four was a transition ycar, a umc of expcctauon and stunning surprises. First, the great luminarics of physics dimmed or blinkcd out, one by one. Heinrich Hertz died; Hermann Helmholtz died; Josef Loschmidt had retired and would die thc following year; and aging Emil du Bois-Reymond died the ycar after that. These cycnts werc difficult for Mach but tragic f_or Boltzmann. Stefan and Loschmidt had bccn his elose friends, and together with Helmholtz and Du Bois-Reymond had all supported Bohzmanns stand in favor of thc atomie theory in physics.

The carnage shifted the balancc of power in German and Austrian physics. Four pillars supporting the tempie of atomism had fallen or wcrc in the proccss of falling. JEjnst Mach and Wilhelm Ostwald, the two leading anti-atomists, wcrc now thc most rcspcaed living Central European physical scientists, cxcept of coursc for Boltzmann—thc last' pillar.¹⁴

Second, Mach’s publishing situation saw an upswing. Scveral new books and translations wcrc bcing prepared for publication. Hc worked hardest in 1894 on his new book on thcrmodynamics. It was timc to drive thc finał nail into thc cofiin of atomism and Boltzmann*s "kinetic theory of gases.“

Third, Machs uniycrsity and pcrsonal lifc underwent scvcral un-

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