Science in a Smokestack

Abstract

First Paragraph: | Ever since the time when Foucault, fifty years ago, swung his memorable pendulum from the dome of the Pantheon in Paris and gave to the world the first experimental proof of the rotation of the earth, it has been the delight of astronomers and physicists to repeat the experiment and enjoy with their own eyes this most convincing demonstration of the earth's diurnal revolution. A true lover of science cannot refrain from feeling some of that enthusiasm with which Foucault's experiment was received by the world. And even the non-professional cannot fail to be delighted with both the simplicity of the apparatus and the solidity of the demonstration. All that is needed, in fact, is a long pendulum, the longer the better, and then the explanation of its use and of its action will, we feel assured, be well within the comprehension of any educated person. An account of how the experiment was recently conducted at Creighton university will therefore be of interest to the reader.