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Mach, Ernst (1838-1916)

From The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Place : Austria Subject : biography, physics Austrian physicist whose name was given to the Mach number, the velocity of a body in a medium relative to the speed of sound in that medium. Mach also made an important contribution to science in a fundamental reappraisal of scientific thought. He sought to understand knowledge in the context of the physiological, sensory, and psychological processes that govern and limit its acquisition. This led him to question mechanical explanations of matter and the universe that could not be adequately observed, and to favour more conceptual or mathematical explanations. This approach to science had a profound influence on Albert Einstein in the formulation of the general theory of relativity. Mach was born in Turas, then in Austria-Hungary but now in the Czech Republic, on 18 February 1838. His family moved to Unter Siebenbrunn near Vienna in 1840. He was almost entirely educated at home by his parents until the age of 15, when he entered the local…
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Full text Article Mach, Ernst

From Astronomy Encyclopedia
Austrian physicist and philosopher. He was the first (1877) to discover the shock waves produced by projectiles moving faster than the speed of sound, and his name is best known in connection with the Mach number , the ratio of an object's velocity to the velocity of sound. His philosophy of science…
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Full text Article Mach, Ernst (1838-1916)

From The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Place : Austria Subject : biography, physics Austrian physicist whose name was given to the Mach number, the velocity of a body in a medium relative to the speed of sound in that medium. Mach also made an important contribution to science in a fundamental reappraisal of scientific thought. He sought…
| 1,237 words
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Full text Article Mach, Ernst (1838–1916),

From Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Austrian physicist and influential philosopher of science. He was born in Turns, Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic, and studied physics at the University of Vienna. Appointed professor of mathematics at Graz in 1864, he moved in 1867 to the chair of physics at Prague, where he came to be…
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Full text Article MATHEMATICS, STUDENT OF

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
Mathematician …the student of mathematics should trust no middleman, but go with his own head to original sources, to the masters themselves. Second-hand ideas are as full of bacteria as second-hand books and clothing. Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society Volume IV 1898 (p. 552 ). Austrian…
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Full text Article IGNORANT

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
English astronomer It is much easier to teach the ignorant than those who will not learn. In Whatton, Arundell Blount Memoir of the Life and Labors of the Rev. Jeremiah Horrox Chapter IV (p. 144 ) Wertheim, MacIntosh & Hunt. London England . 1859. …
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Full text Article SCIENCE, FUNCTION OF

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
Chairman of English Heritage Science's function is to describe how things work, not what they mean. That is a role for philosophers, artists, and writers. Lancet , Volume 339 , 1992. Austrian physicist and philosopher The function of science, as we take it, is to replace experience. Thus, on the one…
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Full text Article COUNT

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
The King was in his counting house Counting out his money. In Goodridge, J. F. Mother Goose Rhymes (p. 50 ) Lee & Sheperd. Boston Massachusetts USA . 1880. American writer “I count a lot of things that there's no need to count,” Cameron said. “Just because that'... …
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Full text Article POINT OF VIEW

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
Austrian physicist and philosopher No point of view has absolute, permanent validity. Each has importance only for some given end. The Analysis of Sensations and the Relation of the Physical to the Psychical Chapter I (p. 37 ) The Open Court Publishing Company. Chicago Illinois USA . 1914. He who…
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Full text Article SCIENCE, ADVANCE OF

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
Austrian physicist and philosopher The greatest advances of science have always consisted in some successful formulation, in clear, abstract, and communicable terms, of what was instinctively known long before and of thus making it the permanent possession of humanity. Translated by McCormack, …
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