Léon Foucault Catholicism that he previously abandoned. Foucault died of what was probably a rapidly developing case of multiple sclerosis on 11 February 1868 in Paris and was buried in the Montmartre Cemetery. The asteroid 5668 Foucault was named for him. His is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower. Collected Works: Léon Foucault Jean Bernard Léon Foucault (; 18 September 1819 – 11 February 1868) was a French physicist best known for his demonstration of the Foucault pendulum, a device demonstrating the effect of the Earth's rotation. He also made an early measurement of the speed of light,
Foucault pendulum vector diagrams of the arc. The support structure is dependent on the velocity of the surface of the Earth where it is located. The point of connection of the pendulum moves with the surface velocity vectors of the Earth at that latitude. At the equator the support-point moves with the equatorial rotation of the Earth and moves the pendulum swing along with this rotation. At the poles the support-point is located on the axis of the Earth so the support-point rotates but does not have a horizontal velocity component as it does at the equator (and a progressively less horizontal velocity component