FREE ESSAY ON FOUCALT

FOUCALT

Jean Bernard Leon Foucault
Jean Bernard Leon Foucault was a very instrumental scientist in 
history. Born on the 18th. of September 1819, in Paris. Foucault was 
born into a fairly wealthy family. As he grew up his father urged him 
to pursue a career in medicine. Foucault agreed, and began his medical 
studies. He soon became bored, and then turned his attention to 
studying physics. In 1845 he became the scientific editor of The Journal 
des De'bats. His experiments began in the same period. In 1855 he 
became the physicist at the local observatory.
Foucault, like many of the great thinkers of his time, was a 
specialist in multiple fields. Foucault was very interested in science 
dealing with mirrors. He personally invented the gyroscope. He 
pioneered a better method to silver astronomical mirrors. He also 
developed the Foucault knife experiment to test whetted mirrors. He 
was interested in the mechanics of light as well. He invented a prism to 
change polarized light and a better method to measure the speed of 
light. He even studied a little in the field of electricity. He discovered 
the phenomenon we know as the Foucault currents. Perhaps his most 
well known area of study was the Earth's rotation.
When most scientists speak of Jean Bernard Foucault, they talk 
about his most famous experiment. The Foucault Pendulum was the 
masterpiece of Foucault's scientific career. At the start Foucault 
wanted to prove that the plane of a swing of a pendulum appears to 
rotate or precess. The secret of the pendulum is it is the earth moving, 
not the pendulum. The pendulum's swing advances to the right due to 
the Coriolis effect. This is the same phenomenon that causes the winds 
to form and the turning of water going down a drain. The earth's 
gravity and a magnet keep the pendulum from slowing down. The 
earth's gravity pulls the pendulum down toward the bottom of it's 
swing arc. Then Foucault used the equation r/R days to find the exact 
rotation of the earth.
Jean Bernard Leon Foucault is probably not the first scientist you 
think of when you think of great impacts on society. However, his 
pendulum experiment did change the way we view our earth. That is 
not also counting his numerous other experiments. From his 
experiments in light to his studies of mirrors and electricity his work is 
evident in everything we see and know about our world.
Bibliography
BIBLIOGRAPHY
books
1) Herniel, John W. Encyclopedia Americana. Connecticut: Grolier
Incorporated, 1993.
web sites
1) http://www. hmns.org/hmns/pendulum.2html- 9/16/99, The
Foucault Pendulum
2) http://www.lansbergen.demon.nl/uk/fouc-uk.html- 9/16/99, Jean
Bernard Leon Foucault