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 be interpreted at different latitudes. In order to observe the rotation of the Earth in relation to the plane of the pendulum swing there must be a basic difference in the two types of motion that are being compared. This basic difference is then manifested as (1) being able to 'observe' the change in position of the Earth in relation to the pendulum swing and (2) the time to observe a complete 'relative rotation' decreases with the sine of the latitude (decreases with an increase in the angle of alignment with the Earth's axis of rotation). At the North Pole: