In the middle of the nineteenth century two fellows of TCD carried out a series of remarkable experiments in a railway shed near the college, swinging huge pendulums from the high roof. They were able to confirm work carried out in 1851 by a French scientist called Foucault, which proved for the first time that the earth spins. Peter’s talk will look at the background to this scientific breakthrough, and will show how they used mathematics to analyse the pendulum’s swing

The talk will take place at 11.00 am on October 26th in the Physics Lecture Theatre in Trinity College.

Peter Lynch is Emeritus Professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, UCD. His interests include dynamic meteorology, numerical weather prediction and recreational mathematics. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Peter writes an occasional mathematics column “That’s Maths” in the Irish Times.

Bookings will open on the 12th of October and close at 23:00 on the 24th of October. Final joininig instructions will be sent to registered attendees on the 25th of October.