IMG93

Ernst Mach

cxpected changrs, of which a fcw wcrc cjuitc drastic. Gu$tav Jaumann wrotc Mach a fricndly lettcr in July 1894 whcn hc withdrew his books and cquipincnt from Mach’s Institutc. Jaumann propcrly thankcd Mach for his paticncc and assistancc, and apologizcd for his carlicr conduct. “At thc same tiine, 1 takc the occasion of my departurc from the Institutc to cxpress my sinccrc thanks for thc good times which I havc had and for the many indulgcnccs which you havc sliown t₀. ward my less agrceablc qualitics. 1 havc Icft my Institutc room in as good order as possible. . .    ¹ '

Thrcc of Mach’s children wcrc 011 thc vcrgc of aduhhood and a futurc carccr. Ludwig, thc oldest at twcnty-fivc, took up his mcdical studies again and dcclarcd that "thc doctorate was mcrcly a question of time.” ¹⁰ Carolinc, thc ncxt oldest at twcnty-onc, married Anton Lcdercr on April 16, 1894, and Inter cmigratcd to America.

Mach’s third child, Heinrich Mach, was brilliant and hardworking At hfteen he studied chemistry as a privaic student under Profcssor Mały in Prague. At scsentccn hc entered the German Univcrsity there and two years latcr published his first scientific articlc. Unlike his f_a ther, hc uscd thc atomie theory in his work.¹⁷ We do not know if hc acccptcd thc rcality of atoms and moleeules as partides cxisting out-side thc appcarances. In 1893 Heinrich Mach transferred to thc Uni-vcrsity of Gottingen whcrc hc studied under Otto Wallach, Walther Nernst, and others. Heinrich passed his cwaminations for the doctor’s degree on July 30, 1894. That night he sent a posteard from Gebhard’$ Hotel in Gottingen.

Dmr Mama:

This cvcning I passed my cxaminations and havc reccivcd my doctor’s degree. Morę la ter.

Grcctings to cvcryonc Schrupp

His dissertation was titlcd Contributions to the Knowledge of Abietic Acid—Trealise #2. The inscription rcad: “To his dear parents, dedi-catcd in gratitudc, by thc author.”

Heinrich Mach had succcssfully reccivcd his doctors degree bcforc his older brorher. His diploma was dated preciscly on his twentieth birthday, September 4, 1894. Seven days latcr hc took an overdosc of slccpi ng powder and dicd.^7R

Ernst Mach took the blow of his son’s death without illusion or evasion. He accepted as a fact that it was suicidc and blamed himself

for crrors and ODMOM in ra.s.ng his chiid. Hc could havc dcnicd all rcsponsibil.ty by s.mply fallmg back on ‘•functional cxplana.ion" and rcfusing ro admu that pariicular "agcms" could bc genuinc causcs But in this mstancc hc took thc manlicr coursc, cvcn though it mcant favoring tummon scnsc over his own philosophy.

One of my son, who wa, comidcrcd a gifted chcmist, took his own lifc in Ciottingcn shorlly after a br.Iltant graduation. Mindful of my own yomh | d.d not wtsh hm. to sufler want. If hc had lud to carn his own brcad hc would not havc found time for such a thing.¹®

I bcliccc today, that my younger son Heinrich, whom I sent to Gottingen durmg the er..,cal per.od of his puberty, was also psychopathic and that by thc carcfu! help which I bestowed upen him. I drovc him to suicidc.^

1-Icinrich’s death afTcctcd Mach’s family lifc, futurc place of work, and his attitudc toward biographical publicity. Anyonc who has had a suicidc in his immediate family knows how much it rcscmblcs a mass murder in that all members of thc family tend to torment them-sclvcs with lingering fcclings of guilt and depression. Mach lost all plcasurc in thc intcllcctual growth and ambition of his childrcn and ccascd to cncouragc his two younger sons, Fclix and Victor, to try for a univcrsity cducation. Hc refused cver again to allow a Christmas trec in his housc. Mach insisted on lcaving Praguc for Vienna, and in a lettcr to Professor Tschcrmak cven offered to tcach thcrc as an “hon-orary” professor without salary.²¹ And hc bccame cxtrcmcly rcluctant to allow pcrsonal information about himsclf or his family to appear in print. This reluctancc was primarily rcsponsiblc for thc fact that no book-lcngth biography was cvcr written during his Ufc or for many ycars afterward. One rcsult has bccn that whilc his accomplishments and influence havc gradually bccn recognizcd, Ernst Mach. as a person. has nevcr bccome as widely known as his intcllcctual and phil-osophical peers. In short, Heinrich Mach’s death and manner of death contributcd to morę than a half century of unneccssary mystery con-cerning thc charactcr and lifc of Ernst Mach.

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Mach’s siegc of Vienna lastcd cight months. The kc\ to succcss was timing and strntcgically placcd allies. According to intclligcnce reports the two main points of resistancc. the Yicnna philosophy facult\ and

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