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Ernst Mach

clcctcd a corresponding mcmber of the Austrian Acadcmy of Science, the most important scicntific socicty in the country, whilc Mach had not been clcctcd to anything. Stefan got along better with most of the Vicnna science professors. in particular with Petzval. Mach dcdicatcd his rcxthook, CompenJtum of Physics for Medical Student s, to Von Ettinghausen, but this one acadcmic ally or would-be ally was not cnough. Mach’s rival won; chat is, Stefan becamc acting chief of the Physical Institutc whilc Von Ettinghausen remaincd the legał hcad.

Joscf Stefan (1835-1893) was born in Klagenfurt in Southern Austria of poor, illiterate Slovcnian parents. As a gymnasium student hc published Slovenian poctry. His best-known physical contributions werc to be in radiant energy and in clectrotcchnology. The major sig-j nificancc of his victory ovcr Mach was that it brought an end to the Doppler, Ettinghausen, and Mach approach to physics in Vicnna and l replaccd it with the attempt of Stcfan*s associatcs, joscf Loschmidt and Ludwig Boltzmann, to introduce the atomie theory into all i branchcs of physics. Stefan’s triumph meant that for the ncxt thirty years the University of Vicnna was to be an atomistic stronghord" in physics, and that if Mach and his point of view were to prosper they would havc to do so elsewhcrc. Vienna physics had found a new orien-tation.

Ernst Mach’s difTicult financial situation and understandable cmo-tional depression were rclicved about a ycar latcr: "By a happy acci-dent 1 was appointed in 1864 to fili the vacancy in the chair of mathe-matics in the then somewhat neglected Univcrsity of Graz at a salary of ten hundred and fifty gulden. This appointment came just as my strength was almost to fail me, but I now soon recovercd when thus rclieved from actual want and privation." “ ’

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Mach taught in JjfM* the Capital of the Austrian provincc of Styria, from 1864 to 18(7. Kemembering his own diflicultics in learning cal-culus by self-instruction and tutoring, hc started by giving introductory Ićcturcs^Tn FhtćgTal and difTcrcntial calculus. During the next threc years hc taught a varicty of courscs in mathematies, physics, physiology. ; and psychology. His winter 1864/1865 leeture series " I he Elcments of Psychophysics” attracted a large audiencc, including many of the univcrsity professors.²⁴

Since Mach pnhlishrd no articlcs on mathematies or małhcmatical theory, hut a great many on cxpcrimental physics and physics applicd | to^pefirnentał psychology and physioJogy, it was elear where his interests lay. Hcncc, when an opportunity dcvclopcd to cxchangc his mathematies for a physics chair in carly 1866, Mach rcadily acccptcd it.

It would be bard to cxaggcratc Mach’s plcasurc at finally obtaining I his own laboratory and having cnough money to afford morę satis-factory cquipmcnt. From 1864 to 1867 hc was ablc to publish three books and twcnty-scvcn articlcs.²⁶ Most of his work, howcvcr, was only a continuation of carlicr rcsearch and was not to reach fruition for many ycars. His most important scicntific discovcry during this period was what arc now callcd “Mach bands,” psychological phenomena that only rccently havc begun to rcccivc the attention they dcserve.

Mach’s two most significant philosophical pcrsonal contacts whilc ar Graz were with Gustav Fcchncr and Emmanucl Herrmann. Fcchncr’s philosophical and psychological ideas largely inspired Mach to writc a psychology book and to dcdicate it to the Leipzig professor. An in* conclusive corrcspondcncc bcrwccn the two men was gradually sup-plcmcnted by pcrsonal mcetings.⁵⁸ The ncgative reaction of Fcchner to many of Mach’s ideas so badly discouragcd him that hc put the manu-script (Analysis of Sensations) aside for twenty ycars. The break led Mach into a eloser cxamination of just where his ideas differed from thosc of Fcchner and were in need of inereased clarification.

Emmanucl Herrmann (1839-1902) was a privatdozcnt in what was ) then callcd “national-cconomy." His attempt to sec an “economic" as* I pect in rhc most disparatc fields and actions of life hclped Mich clarify his own generał theory of “cconomy" Mach wrotc: "Through ! my intercourse in 1864 with the political economist, E. Herrmann. | who, according to his own spccialty, sought to tracę out the economical element in evcry kind of occupation, 1 becamc accustomed to designate. the intellcctual actiyity of the investigator as economical." -⁷

We may add that Herrmann was morę than just a theorist who influeneed Mach’s philosophy. Hc also had practical ideas. Among other things he was known as the inventor of the posteard, whosc "cconomic function has bccomc familiar to virtually cvcryonc.-^s

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