Early Life

Leon Foucault was born on September 18, 1819, in Paris. His father, Fortune Foucault, was a publisher of the history of France. His father died in 1829, only ten years after Leon was born.

School and Early Inventions

Leon squinted and looked awkward. He was a bad student, and had to have a tutor. When he was thirteen, he started inventing. He made a boat, telegraph, and small steam engine that really worked!! He started to study medicine, but that didn't last long. He felt sick when he saw blood while working. He couldn't look at the faces of the suffering patients, so he had to drop out. Leon's mother thought that he would be a surgeon, but unfortunately he got ill.

Invention

On February 2, 1851, Leon Foucault sent this letter to all the known scientists in Paris. "You are invited to see the earth turn tomorrow from three to five at the Meridian Hall of the Paris Observatory.” That next day, he showed them his ultimate proof that the earth turned. It was a pendulum that could swing freely. The rope was 11 meters long. Slowly the pattern made by spike on theend of the ball started to change.

Late Life

Sadly on February 11, 1868 he died of a rapid case of multiple sclerosis, which affects the nervous system. He never married.