Foucault’s pendulum is sent crashing to Earth
The original pendulum, which was used by French scientist Leon Foucault to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth and which forms an integral part of Eco’s novel’s labyrinthine plot, has been irreparably damaged in an accident in Paris.
The pendulum’s cable snapped last month and its sphere crashed to the marble floor of the Musee des Arts et Metiers.
In 1851, Foucault used the pendulum to perform a sensational demonstration in the Paris Pantheon, proving to Napoleon III and the Parisian elite that the Earth revolved around its axis. Such was its success that the experiment was replicated throughout Europe.
Rebuild the bob from nickel-plated depleted uranium. Upgrade the suspensory filament from nominal piano wire to tungsten filament or high tensile carbon fiber. Then… test the Allais effect in France on 05 November 2059. A very sweet spot in time and space is northern Alaska on 30 March 2033, 2.6 minutes of total eclipse with a near maximally rotatng pendulum oscillation plane for the high latitude.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault_pendulum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allais_effect
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2051/SE2059Nov05Agoogle.html
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEpath/SEpath2051/SE2059Nov05Apath.html
Admittedly an annular eclipse
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEatlas/SEatlas3/SEatlas2021.GIF
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2033Mar30Tgoogle.html
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEpath/SEpath2001/SE2033Mar30Tpath.html
total eclipse