Pendulum the pendulum could be used to measure the force of gravity. During his expedition to Cayenne, French Guiana in 1671, Jean Richer found that a pendulum clock was minutes per day slower at Cayenne than at Paris. From this he deduced that the force of gravity was lower at Cayenne. In 1687, Isaac Newton in "Principia Mathematica" showed that this was because the Earth was not a true sphere but slightly oblate (flattened at the poles) from the effect of centrifugal force due to its rotation, causing gravity to increase with latitude. Portable pendulums began to be taken on voyages
Foucault's Pendulum in "Faith In Fakes", reminiscent of the episode in the novel. He also describes French ethnologist Roger Bastide who bears a resemblance to the character of Agliè. Eco's novel was also a direct inspiration on Charles Cecil during the development of Revolution Software's highly successful point and click adventure game "", in which an American tourist and a French journalist must thwart a conspiracy by a shadowy cabal who model themselves on the Knights Templar. Foucault's Pendulum Foucault's Pendulum (original title: "Il pendolo di Foucault" ) is a novel by Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco. It was first published