Editing Gyroscope (section)

===Foucault's gyroscope===
{{main|Foucault gyroscope}}

In 1852, Foucault used it in an experiment demonstrating the rotation of the Earth.<ref>L. Foucault (1852) "Sur les phénomènes d’orientation des corps tournants entraînés par un axe fixe à la surface de la terre – Nouveaux signes sensibles du mouvement diurne" (On the phenomena of the orientation of rotating bodies carried along by an axis fixed to the surface of the earth – New perceptible signs of the daily movement), ''Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des Sciences (Paris)'', vol. 35, pages 424–427. Available on-line (in French): [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2992n/f428.image Gallica.bnf.fr] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716224438/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2992n/f428.image |date=16 July 2012 }}</ref><ref>Circa 1852, Friedrich Fessel, a German mechanic and former secondary school teacher, independently developed a gyroscope. See: '''(1)''' Julius Plücker (September 1853) "Über die Fessel'sche rotationsmachine", ''Annalen der Physik'', vol. 166, no. 9, pages 174–177; '''(2)''' Julius Plücker (October 1853) "Noch ein wort über die Fessel'sche rotationsmachine", ''Annalen der Physik'', vol. 166, no. 10, pages 348–351; '''(3)''' Charles Wheatstone (1864) [https://books.google.com/books?id=CtGEAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA307 "On Fessel's gyroscope"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819020402/https://books.google.com/books?id=CtGEAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA307 |date=19 August 2016 }}, ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London'', vol. 7, pages 43–48.</ref>

It was Foucault who gave the device its modern name, in an experiment to see (Greek ''skopeein'', to see) the Earth's rotation (Greek ''gyros'', circle or rotation),<ref name="OED">{{cite book|title=The Oxford English Dictionary|edition=2nd|year=1989|volume=VI|page=985|url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/82917|access-date=11 March 2023|archive-date=15 September 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915102809/https://www.oed.com/dictionary/gyroscope_n|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author-link= Léon Foucault |first=Léon |last=Foucault | journal=Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des Sciences | publisher=Gauthier-Villars | title= Mécanique: Sur les phénomènes d'orientation des corps tournants entraînés par un axe fixe à la surface de la Terre. Nouveaux signes sensibles du mouvement diurne| issue=Week of Monday 27 September 1852|volume=35 | year=1852b | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KHJFAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA421 | language=fr|page=427}}</ref> which was visible in the 8 to 10 minutes before friction slowed the spinning rotor.