Google on Wednesday marked the 194th birth anniversary of French physicist Léon Foucault with a pendulum doodle, in honor of his device confirming that the Earth rotated.
Visitors to Google's homepage (www.google.com) were greeted with an interactive pendulum allowing them to see the effect of the Earth's rotation.
"The interactive doodle is based on the Foucault pendulum - a radical device he created to demonstrate the effect of the earth’s rotation - and allows users to manipulate the swinging bob according to where on earth they happen to be," UK's The Independent said.
As in the past, clicking on the spyglass icon will send users to a Google Search Results page for Léon Foucault.
Foucault's pendulum was introduced in 1851 to confirm the theory that the Earth rotated. It made a full circle once every 32.7 hours.
Foucault was born in Paris on September 18, 1819 and initially studied medicine, but quit after developing a fear of blood.
In 1851, he made his famous pendulum experiment, and the following year he used and named the gyroscope, which was used to measure orientation.
He died of multiple sclerosis on February 11, 1868 at age 48. — ELR, GMA News
source: gmanetwork.com
