Inventor & Physicist Jean Bernard Léon Foucault’s 194th Birthday with google

Today, search engine giant Google honors the 194th birthday of French physicist and inventor Jean Bernard Léon Foucault, who is best known for his demonstration of his Foucault pendulum. This device was revolutionary, as it successfully demonstrated the effect of the Earth’s rotation on its axis. Born in Paris on September 18, 1819, the brilliant Foucault also made an early measurement of the speed of light, discovered eddy currents, and is credited with naming the gyroscope.

The animated doodle on Google’s home page today is a representation of Foucault’s famous pendulum experiment. The doodle is also interactive: by sliding the two toggles on the right either up or down, the pendulum clock changes. The toggles adjust the clock for time and the position on the earth, and different combinations make the pendulum knock down the pins that form a circle beneath the pendulum.
To honor his scientific accomplishments, Foucault’s name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower. He died in 1868 at the age of 48 from multiple sclerosis.