Ernst Mach of experimental physics concentrated on the interference, diffraction, polarization and refraction of light in different media under external influences. From there followed important explorations in the field of supersonic fluid mechanics. Mach and physicist-photographer Peter Salcher presented their paper on this subject in 1887; it correctly describes the sound effects observed during the supersonic motion of a projectile. They deduced and experimentally confirmed the existence of a shock wave of conical shape, with the projectile at the apex. The ratio of the speed of a fluid to the local speed of sound "v"/"v" is now called the Mach number. It
Mach (kernel) system would be implemented by starting with the existing BSD code, and re-implementing it bit by bit as inter-process communication-based (IPC-based) programs. Thus Mach would begin as a monolithic system similar to existing UNIX systems, and evolve more towards the microkernel concept over time. Mach started largely as an effort to produce a cleanly defined, UNIX-based, highly portable Accent. The result was a short list of generic concepts: Mach developed on Accent's IPC concepts, but made the system much more UNIX-like in nature, even able to run UNIX programs with little or no modification. To do this, Mach introduced the