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,
Paraconical pendulum about its vertical axis as well as swinging in two perpendicular directions. Therefore a paraconical pendulum has three degrees of freedom. When the rotation of the Earth is taken into account, the formal equations in classical mechanics of the behavior of this dynamical system are rather complex. The rolling friction of the ball upon the flat is extremely low, so that a paraconical pendulum has a high Q factor, principally determined by air resistance. Typically a paraconical pendulum is built as a solid body with a stiff rod, rather than with a flexible wire or cord, and its length is