Jean Bernard Leon Foucault
Leon Foucault (1819-1868), a 19th-century French scientist and physicist, is responsible for giving the name gyroscope to a wheel or rotor mounted in gimbal rings -- i.e. a set of rings that permit it to turn freely in any direction. Leon Foucault named his gyroscope in 1852. The gyroscope was used by Foucault as a tool to study the earth's rotation.
A year earlier (1851) Leon Foucault invented the Foucault pendulum which he used to measure the Earth's rotation. Among his other achievements: in 1850, Foucault proved that light traveled more slowly in water than in air; and in 1858 Foucault made an improvement to the mirrors used in reflecting telescopes.
Gyroscope
Definition
Howstuffworks
"How Gyroscopes Work"
Elmer Sperry
- Sperry Gyroscope
Gyroscope
Compass: History of Sperry Marine
Biographies on inventor Elmer Sperry
and the history of gyroscope compasses.
Elmer
Sperry - Sperry Gyroscope
Elmer Sperry invented the gyroscopic
compass or Sperry Gyroscope.
Elmer
Ambrose Sperry
Elmer Sperry invented gyroscope
guided automatic pilots for ships, airplanes, and spacecraft.
Charles
Stark Draper
Charles
Stark Draper
Charles Draper invented a gyroscope
that stabilized and balanced gunsights, bombsights and for launching long-range
missiles.
Related Innovations
Nautical
Inventions
Compass
