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 Earth increased by the inverse of the sine of the latitude. In the examples, the pendulums are of great size to aid in the visualization of the pendulum swing in relation to the Earth (shown as blue circles). The pendulum is drawn so that 90 degrees of pendulum arc sweeps out 90 degrees of arc on the surface of the Earth. Views from the side, the front, and above (right, center, left) are provided to aid in the interpretation of the diagrams and arrows are provided to show the direction of the Earth's rotation. The schematic at the bottom of