 ernst waldfried josef wenzel mach (; ; february 18, 1838 â february 19, 1916) was an austrian physicist and philosopher, noted for his contributions to physics such as the mach number and the study of shock waves. as a philosopher of science, he was a major influence on logical positivism, american pragmatism and through his criticism of newton, a forerunner of einstein's relativity. ==biography== ernst waldfried josef wenzel mach was born in brno-chrlice (), [
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