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  3. The Science of Mechanics
  • Cited by 26
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      October 2014
      October 2013
      ISBN:
      9781107338401
      9781108066488
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107338401
      Dimensions:
      Weight & Pages:
      Dimensions:
      (216 x 140 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.7kg, 556 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy, History of Mathematics, Engineering: General Interest, History, Philosophy and Foundations of Physics
      Series:
      Cambridge Library Collection - Physical Sciences
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    • Selected: Digital
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    Subjects:
    Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy, History of Mathematics, Engineering: General Interest, History, Philosophy and Foundations of Physics
    Series:
    Cambridge Library Collection - Physical Sciences
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    Book description

    Ernst Mach (1838–1916), the first scientist to study objects moving faster than the speed of sound, propounded a scientific philosophy which called for a strict adherence to observable data. He maintained that the sole purpose of scientific study is to provide the simplest possible description of detectable phenomena. In this work, first published in German in 1883 and here translated in 1893 by Thomas J. McCormack (1865–1932) from the 1888 second edition, Mach begins with a historical discussion of mechanical principles. He then proceeds to a critique of Newton's concept of 'absolute' space and time, reflecting Mach's rejection of theoretical concepts in the absence of definitive evidence. Although historically controversial, Mach's ideas and attitudes informed philosophers as influential as Russell and Wittgenstein, and his insistence upon a 'relative' idea of space and time provided much of the philosophical basis for Einstein's theory of general relativity decades later.

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