THE FOUCAULT PENDULUM
Given by the Pohlad Family Foundation
The Foucault pendulum at Puget Sound is located in the center of the spiral staircase in Harned Hall’s main lobby. Hung from the third-floor ceiling, the cable pendulum is suspended over a base with inlaid wood in a beautiful Penrose pattern. The pattern is named for British physicist and mathematician Roger Penrose, who, in the 1970s, developed sets of shapes to tile a surface in regular but nonrepeating patterns. The university’s pendulum base was designed and constructed by Professor of Physics Alan Thorndike.