The Foucault pendulum at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles
© GIPhotoStock/Science Photo Library
The Foucault pendulum at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles
French physicist Léon Foucault first demonstrated his pendulum experiment in 1851 in Paris. Since then, it’s become a mainstay of science centers and museums around the world. His simple, elegant device—little more than a weight on a wire, with suspending hardware that allows the pendulum to swing in any direction—is considered the first to prove the rotation of the Earth on its axis. This Foucault pendulum swings in the central rotunda of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.
St. Mark's Clock Tower, Venice, Italy
Roller coaster in Nagashima Spa Land, Mie prefecture, Japan
The Globe of Science and Innovation building, Meyrin, Switzerland
Preservation Hall, New Orleans, Louisiana
Interior view of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia
Vineyard near Pully, Vaud, Switzerland
Seattle Central Library, Seattle, Washington
Contemplative Court fountain at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC
