Pendulum by Amir D Aczel

Pendulum by Amir D Aczel

In 1853, before the upper crust of French society - including the emperor Napoleon III - a little known physicist named Leon Foucault staged a dramatic demonstration inside the Pantheon in Paris. He set in motion a seventy metre long pendulum that swung slowly across the interior of the large ceremonial hall, hanging from its high ceiling. Foucault's famous experiment revolutionised the entire world of science, and of society itself. He had proved, beyond a doubt, that the earth does indeed rotate on its axis. In PENDULUM, renowned scientist and author Amir Aczel brings readers the first detailed non-fiction account of how this struggling physicist came to his remarkable breakthrough, as well as the opposition he faced - both before and after his demonstration - at the hands of the scientific community in France. Drawing a wonderfully vivid portrait of Napoleon III and Paris during the Second Empire, Aczel chronicles France's scientific glory during the 1850s, and evaluates how Foucault's theories and achievements are viewed in the current perspective of modern science.

The Christian Science Monitor This intriguing account..exemplifies a lesson that humanity seems forever reluctant to learn: How the world appears depends on your frame of reference.
Simon Winchester author of The Professor and the Madman [S]eductively captivating....With all the clarity and narrative brilliance that has become [Aczel's] hallmark.

Amir D. Aczel is the bestselling author of ten books, including Entanglement, The Riddle of the Compass, The Mystery of the Aleph, and Fermat's Last Theorem. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780743464796
ISBN 10	0743464796
Title	Pendulum
Author	Amir D Aczel
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Atria Books
Year published	2004-10-18
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.