Abstract
Ernst Mach was basically an experimental physicist. Even upon his appointment as professor of the History and Theory of Inductive Science at the University of Vienna (1895) he announced in his inaugural lecture, “I shall remain a natural inquirer.” la Ten years later, in the Preface to Erkenntnis and Irrtum, he claimed, “I am not a philosopher at all, but only a scientist.” 2 At the very beginning of his professional career (1865), indeed, in a popular lecture at Graz, he had already set forth the creed of a serious inquirer: “Whoever has roamed through a beautiful country knows that the tourist’s delights increase with his progress. It is also true of the natural philosopher ... the first questions are formed upon the intention by the inquirer by practical considerations; the subsequent ones are not. An irresistible attraction draws him to these; a nobler interest which far transcends the mere needs of life.” 1b
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ernst Mach, Popular Scientific Lectures, trans]. by T. J. McCormack, 5th ed. Open Court, La Salle, Ill., 1943.
‘On the Part Played by Accident in Invention and Discovery’.
‘The Fibres of Corti’.
‘On Transformation and Adaptation in Scientific Thought’.
‘On the Economical Nature of Physical Inquiry Projectiles’.
‘On Some Phenomena Attending the Flight of Projectiles’.
‘The Velocity of Light’.
g‘Why Has Man Two Eyes’.
‘On the Causes of Harmony’.
Ernst Mach, Erkenntnis und Irrtum. J. A. Barth, Leipzig, 1905.
Ernst Mach, The Analysis of Sensations, transi. by C. M. Williams, 1st German ed., revised by S. Waterlow, 5th German ed., Dover, New York, 1959.
Carlton Berenda Weinberg, Mach’s Empirio-Pragmatism in Physical Science, Ph.D. Thesis. Albee, New York, 1937.
Ernst Mach, The Science of Mechanics, transi. by T. J. McCormack, 6th ed., revised by K. Menger, 9th German ed. Open Court, La Salle, Ill., 1960.
Ernst Mach, ‘Ober einige Wirkunge des elektrischen Funkens’. Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Wien Akademie der Wissenschaften 72, 44, 1876.
W. D. Kennedy, ‘Explosions and Explosives in Air’, in Summary Technical Report of the NDRC, Division 2, I. Effects of Impact and Explosion. Washington, D.C., 1946.
John von Neumann, ‘Oblique Reflection of Shocks’, Washington, D.C., U.S. Navy Bu. Ord. Explosives Research Report # 12, 1943.
R. W. Wood, °On the Interaction of Shock Waves’, OSRD Report No. 1996, 1943. The photographs in this article are from the residue of Wood’s scientific materials at the Rowland Physics Laboratory, courtesy of J. Wosyka Mandansky.
R. Ladenburg, C. C. Van Voorhis, and J. Winckler. Interferometric Study of Supersonic Phenomena I, II’, Washington, D.C. Naval Ord. Reports 69–46, 93–46; 1946.
Ernst Mach, History and Root of the Principle of the Conservation of Energy, transi. P. E. B. Jourdain, Chicago, Ill.: Open Court, 1911.
Philipp Frank, in Between Physics and Philosophy. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1941. (a) ‘The Importance of Ernst Mach’s Philosophy of Science for Our Times’, 1917; and (b) ‘Ernst Mach and the Unity of Science’, 1938 [reprinted in this volume - Ed.).
R. J. Seeger and A. B. Tayler, ‘Triple Shockwave Interactions’, Phys. Letters 2 (1962) 339.
L. Prandtl, Essentials of Fluid Dynamics, transi. 1949, 3rd ed. Hafner, New York, 1952.
H. Polacheck and Raymond J. Seeger, ‘Shockwave Interactions’ in Fundamentals of Gas Dynamics (ed. by H. W. Emmons), Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1955. in D. C. Pack, ‘Shockwave Phenomena’ in Research Frontiers in Fluid Dynamics (ed. by R. J. Seeger and G. Temple ), Wiley, New York, 1965.
D. C. Pack, ‘Shockwave Phenomena’ in Research Frontiers in Fluid Dynamics (ed. by R. J. Seeger and G. Temple ), Wiley, New York, 1965.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1970 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Seeger, R.J. (1970). On Mach’s Curiosity about Shockwaves. In: Cohen, R.S., Seeger, R.J. (eds) Ernst Mach: Physicist and Philosopher. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1462-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1462-4_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-8318-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-1462-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive