7 Jan 2009

Today in history: history of science

Léon Foucault uses a pendulum to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth.

Foucault had an insight. A pendulum hanging on a wire and swinging directly north and south would appear to the observer to slowly move its plane of oscillation as the Earth turned underneath it.


I've lately been reading Steven Johnson's The Invention of Air which is proving how little about the history of science I know, but how interesting it can be when told well.

No comments: