Mach’s principle formulated

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.2: German-language Writing and Culture: Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, 800-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Domains

Physics

Dates

Date of occurrence 1893

Places

Austria (Location)

Resources

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It is the first constructive attack on the idea of Newtonian absolute space. In Mach’s words, the principle is embodied as follows:

[The] investigator must feel the need of... knowledge of the immediate connections, say, of the masses of the universe. There will hover before him as an ideal insight into the principles of the whole matter, from which accelerated and inertial motions will result in the same way.

The broad notion is that mass there influences inertia here. This concept was used in Einstein’s

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94 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Mach’s principle formulated". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 May 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=6372, accessed 06 May 2024.]

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