Léon Foucault
French physicist, 1819-1868
After an education received chiefly at home, Foucault studied medicine, which he abandoned in favour of physics due to a blood phobia. He first directed his attention to the improvement of Louis Daguerre's photographic processes. For three years he was experimental assistant to Alfred Donné in his course of lectures on microscopic anatomy. 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, discovered eddy currents, and is credited with naming the gyroscope. In 1862 he was made a member of the Bureau des Longitudes and an officer of the Legion of Honour.
Source:
frz. Physiker und Astronom. Er unternahm 1851 den nach ihm benannten Pendel-Versuch (1819-1868). Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift. o. O. u. D. 8vo. 1 1/3 pp.
$ 5,112 / 4.500 €
(94503)
Léon Foucault (1819-1868), French physicist and astronomer. A.L.S., “L. Foucault”, n. p. n. d., 1 1/3 pages 8vo. Letter to his friend the physicist Gilberto Govi: „... Je n’ai aucunement l’intention de tenir secrets les procédés que j’emploie pour construire les miroirs de verre à surface parabolique. Ces procédés ont été indiqués dans les comptes rendus et dans le Cosmos. De plus une commission doit assister à l’execution du travail et se chargera sans doute d’exprimer son opinion sur les faits dont elle aura été temoin ...“
physicist (1819-1868). Autograph letter signed ("L. Foucault"). [Paris]. 25.12.1858. 8vo. 3¾ pp. on bifolium.
$ 2,840 / 2.500 €
(60908/BN44807)
To an unnamed recipient, asking if his newly designed telescope would soon be ready to go on a world tour. - Folds, browned.