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Ernst Mach

A lctter from Mach to Purkync (Junc 14, 1867) regretted a missed opportunity to gct together.⁹ But whcn they finally met it became elear that there had bcen another misunderstanding. ‘‘Purkync, the famous physiologist, whosc optical work had arouscd Gocthcs inter-est, . . . was known as a strong C/.cch nationalist and bclieved that hc had found in the ncw professor of physics, who was born in Moravia, a friend who shared his political point of vicw. Whcn Mach first camc to visit him, Purkync spoke Czech and said ‘I havc hcard that vou speak Czech.’ Mach answered in German and refused to.be drawn into a political discussion.”¹⁰

Mach saw no rcason to gct involvcd. He took the position of Joseph II and Franz Grillparzer against nationalism. Ile simply did not be-lievc in it. Hc considered it cmotional and rcactionary. Hc wanted to rcmain dctachcd and silcnt on the whole issue of Germans vs. Czechs. It was not a matter that could be solvcd in a scicntific way. But his Czech “countrymcn" were hard to discouragc; they wanted him on their sidc. Mach continued to dodge and evade, but in the early 1870S hc was to encountcr the hcaviest artillcry piece in the Czech arsenał.

The single man most rcsponsible for the Czech Renaissance of the ninctcenth century was probably the historian Palacky, whose books published in the 1830S and 1840S opencd the eyes of many Czechs to the glories of their own past, in particular to the victorics of Jan ŹiSka and Prokop the Great ovcr the numerous German “crusades” launched against the Hnssites in the fiftccnth century. According to G. P. Gooch: “But by far the most cclebratcd [scholar] was Palacky, the greatest of Slav historians and the crcator of the natipnal consciousncss of Bo-hemia.” ¹¹ Mach now had to face him.

“Whcn Mach was elcctcd to the Bohemian Scientific Society, he had to pay a visit to the historian, Palacky, who at that time was president. Hc energetically urged Mach to place himself on the Czech side, for in critical times evcryone had to take a position. Mach decisivcly re-jectcd this advicc and remaincd what he was, namely, a German-speaking Austrian who wanted to dcdicate himself entirely to science and who did not want to trouble himself about politics.” ¹² Fortunatcly for Mach, the times, while depressing for linguistic Germans in Prague, were not yet critical and hc was ablc to survive this early grilling and get on with being a rcasonably happy and succcssful professor of physics. Indeed, he was shortly to have a number of highly apprcciativc Czech students in his classes, some of whom werc cven to become close pcrsonal friends a fcw ycar latcr.

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Ernst Mach marricda chccrful orphan, Louis- Marussie, in Gra,

August T, iBćłI³ They scttled in Prague and slightly ovcr a ycar latcr their first child, Ludw.g, was born. The family continucd to grow until thcrc were four sons and a daughter. Each child soon acquircd at _lc3St one nickname. 1£ we have guessed corrcctly from cxi«ing corre-spondence, Ludwig (1868) was “Flaxl," Carolina (1873) “Lina" and “Katzl,” Heinrich (1874) "Schrupp," Fclix (.879) "Sultl," and Victor (,881) “Azzorl." Bcsidcs the children thcrc were also numerous succes-_sivc cooks, nursemaids, scryants, and visiting relations, as wcll as a swarm, a wholc menagerie of animals. Louisc hked Dachshunds best. M_ach’s prefcrcncc was for half-tamed sparrows.

Mach’s laboratory was locatcd at 562 Obstmarkt, in a structure ad-joining the oldest and most important building in the University, the "Carolinuin,” which faccd a large public square in the vcry center of Prague. Mach and his family lived abovc the laboratory on the fifth floor. Conccrning instruction, his leaures covercd a widc rangę but gradually narrowed until by the i88os he rarcly taught morc than one coursc in cxpcrimcntal physics fivc days a week along with laboratory cxercises. His tcaching was normally oriented toward the nceds of n^liml and pharmaceutical students and prospcctive Gymnasium His classes on expcrimcntal physics stressed an historical ap-proach to cach physical topie and after the first few years were com-bined with class demonstrations using instruments and equipmcnt frequcntly designed by Mach himself and constructcd by his talcnted Mechanik#’• Frąnz Hajek.

Original laboratory invcntions includcd a special pendulum to dem-onstrate the dependence of the duration of a swing on its accelcration, a tobacco smokcbox to help givc a visual demonstration of light rc fraction through prisms into color, and a polarization apparatus with a rotating analyzcr. Many of thcsc mcdiaiiical deviccs were used in physical Laboratories throughout Central Europę for over half a cen-tury. A collection was kept in Prague at least as late as the outbreak of World War II.¹⁵

The most famous of all his instruments was surely his “wavc machinę.” This device could make progressivc longitudinal wavesTpro-grćśsive transversc wavcs, standing longitudinal waves, and standing transvcrse wavcs.¹⁰ Mach recallcd: “My laboratory instrument niakcr.