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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Science Of Mechanics : A Critical And Historical Exposition Of Its Principles by Ernst Mach , Translated by Thomas J. McCormack
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 Newtons concept of absolute space and time, reflecting Machs rejection of theoretical concepts in the absence of definitive evidence. Although historically controversial, Machs 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 Einsteins theory of general relativity decades later.show more