Foucault Pendulum at the Buhl Planetarium

1939-09-28

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Foucault Pendulum at the Buhl Planetarium
  • Title
  • Foucault Pendulum at the Buhl Planetarium
  • Creator
  • Newman-Schmidt
  • Identifier
  • MSP285.B003.F09.I02
  • Source Identifier
  • MSP285.B003.F09.I02
  • Description
  • The thirty-five foot long Foucault Pendulum at the Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science. The planetarium, located in the North Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh, was designed by architects Ingham, Pratt & Boyd. The facility opened as the United State's fifth major planetarium on October 24, 1939. The pendulum was named for Leon Foucault, a French physicist who in 1851 set up an enormous pendulum in the Pantheon in Paris. It was the first experimental proof of the Earth’s rotation. As the Earth rotates, the pendulum changed direction and after ten and one-half hours, rather than swinging from north to south, it swings from east to west. Visitors started the process by pushing a button located at the east side of the railing surrounding the pendulum pit. The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science closed as a public museum on August 31, 1991. In April 2002, Pittsburgh City Council approved a bill allowing the lease of the building to the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum.
  • Genre
  • photographs
  • Subject
  • Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    Pendulum.
    Planetariums--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.
  • Source
  • Allegheny Conference on Community Development Photographs, 1892-1981, MSP 285, Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center
  • Contributor
  • Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center
  • Collection
  • Allegheny Conference on Community Development Photographs
  • Rights Information
  • Copyright Not Evaluated. The copyright and related rights status of this Item has not been evaluated. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.
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