Foucault’s Pendulum

Sleaford, Lincolnshire

2009

Blown glass bob; electronics; laser; LEDs; speakers; liquid map

The original pendulum by French Physicist Leon Foucault, first shown in Paris in 1851, and the first empirical proof of the Earth’s rotation.

An high school in Sleaford approached us with a vision to install a Foucault’s Pendulum within the busy entrance into the new Library

We lifted the blown glass pendulum above visitors’ heads, so they became part of the work. A laser marked the swing on a liquid map of earth below, allowing students to literally watch the earth’s rotation. Translucent images of space cover the curtain walling.

4m x 4m x 8m