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Ernst Mach

and was grounded in his childhood upbringing and hcalth. Mach was physically wcak, frccjucntly ill, cngagcd in no contact sports, is not known to hnvr becn physically punishcd, and ahvays dislikcd military "herocs” and pcoplc who triumphcd by "forcc.”

The prnctical conscquencc ot his prcferęnce for “fiinctional’ over force-oricnted explanation was to disposc Mach toward mathcmatics and science and away from narrativc history and thc humanities. Look-ing for contrast relations was fine tor trying to undcrstand idcalizcd typcs of happcnings or for understanding particulars as cxamplcs of types, but in history, thc humanities, and practical hfc, cxplanation mcant not laws or constant relations but discovering thc most im-portant variables or swing factors understood as partieular agents or forces at partieular places and times. For comrnon sense, forccs were causcs. For many scientists, laws or hinctions werc causcs.

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Johann Mach introduced his son to science when the boy was seven ycars old, hut thc introduction was dTcctcd so wcll that young Ernst remembered it with pleasure for the rest of his lifc. First, his father showed him an empty flowcrpot and asked him what was in it. The boy, somewhat disconcertcd by the question, answered: “Nothing.” Thcn his father put a smali cork in the hole in the bottom and tolcl Ernst to push the pot face down into thc water of a nearby rain barrcl. When thc pot was somc distance under the water the cork popped out and air bubbles camc up. In this way Ernst Mach learned about thc cxistcnce of air and the naturę of air pressurc.'¹

Mach’s father carried out other simplc cxpcriments with a tumblcr 3nd a garden tub, equally elear, and cqually fascinating to thc young boy. Ernst hccame so interested that he soon began to experiment on his own, but not always with sufficicnt care. For cxample, he oncc tested camphor to sec if it would burn. The result was singed cyebrows.

Mach was equally attracted to mathcmatics, and indeed, progressed so rapidly he soon could be Icft to Iearn on his own. At cight, he over-hcard another of his father s pupils, a boy of fourtccn, learning algebra and picked up a lot just listening to them, though he latcr admitted his comprehension had bccn incomplcte and superficial.'"’⁶ Ernst Mach began his classical, humanistic education at the Bcnedic-tinc Gymnasium in Seitenstettcn west of Vienna in 1847. The ninc-ycar-

old child, howcvcr, did not farę wdl. In partieular, he had difficulty learning Greek and Latin grammar. Dcclcnsions and conjugations were simply too hard. He cspecially rcmcmbcrcd resisting thc scntcncc “Ini-tium sapicntiac est timor domini” (thc beginning of wisdom is thc fcar of Goci). The only class he latcr recallcd with plcasurc was gcography, which sccmcd casy to him. Indeed, he latcr daimed: **Evcn now I havc the forms of thc contincnts so wcll in my head, that without cver hav-ing studied gcography again I can still carry out imaginary trips without a map.” ²⁰

Tlić Bcncdictinc fathers considcrcd him completcly without talent ("sehr talentlos") and litcrally untcachablc. They allowcd him to pass thc year, but rccommended that he icarn a tradc or be prepared for a business carccr. Mach latcr admitted that under thc circumstanccs it was a correct judgment, and that he would ncvcr havc madę a good jurist or paragraph-mcmorizer sucli as many of his colleagues becamc.²⁷

Johann Mach, dceply upset. took his son home, and shortly began thc toughest and most significant turoring job of his life. Ile began to teach his son Greek, Latin, history, thc clements of geometry, and algebra, and when progress was slow he often shouted at him “Norse brains!" or “Head of a Grecnlandcr!” ²⁸ With gruesome difficulty thc boy learned. Eventually, when ablc to read the elassies with some fluency, and after he discovcred that all ancicnt works were not mcrely about aggrcs$ive kings and war, Ernst actually came to enjoy some of them. He also eagerly listened to his fathers stories about Archimcdes, Vitruvius, and other early scicntists. In the long run, Mach was to read through a vast part of classical literaturę, indeed much morę than would have bcen likcly in a regular school. Wilhelm Jerusalcm, who taught Classical philology for many years, said of him: “How astound-ing it was to be shown that the physicist and physiologist, Mach, was better acquainted with thc old elassies than many a specialist.” ²⁹

Judging from Ernst’s latcr excellent grasp of French and English and from thc fact that his youngest sister Marie later taught French—cvcn though she never attended school a day in her life—it is highly likcly that Johann Mach also taught his children modern languages as wcll as “dead” ones.

Indeed, it was a family habit to read foreign novels to one another at night, though whether in the original language is not elear. Marie Mach recalled: “Also winter had its agrceablc hours. In the cvening after our frugal night mcal father would read aloud. 1 was taken to bed

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