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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished paper, 'Sur la théorie de l'orientation du plan oscillatoire du pendule simple: et son application à la recherche d'aplatissement du sphéroïde terrestre' [On the theory of the orientation of the oscillatory plane of the simple pendulum: and its application to the search for flattening of the terrestrial spheroid] by Cândido Baptista d'Oliveira

Reference number: AP/34/18

Date: 10 January 1853

Description

D'Oliveira deduces a formula upon geometrical considerations alone, expressing the deviation of a free pendulum in terms of the latitude and difference of meridians, or hour-angle. This is done assuming only the inertia of the pendulum. D'Oliveira's formula assumes the Earth to be a sphere. If now, observation should give a slightly different deviation, d'Oliveira infers that this would be due to the ellipticity of the Earth. He investigates a formula geometrically, to express the ellipticity in terms of such difference; and thus by accurate observations of [Léon] Foucault's pendulum in different parts of the earth, he conceives the ellipticity might be determined.

Includes a diagram of the arc of a pendulum. Preceded by a covering letter dated 14 December 1853.

Subject: Physics

Received 18 January 1854. Read 2 February 1854. Communicated by Charles Babbage.

Written by d'Oliveira in Rio de Janiero.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 6 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'Sur la théorie de I'orientation du plan oscillatoire du pendule simple, et son application à la recherche de l'aplatissement du sphéroide terrestre'.

Reference number
AP/34/18
Earliest possible date
10 January 1853
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
8 pages
Format
Diagram
Manuscript

Creator name

Cândido Baptista d'Oliveira

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Citation

Cândido Baptista d'Oliveira, Unpublished paper, 'Sur la théorie de l'orientation du plan oscillatoire du pendule simple: et son application à la recherche d'aplatissement du sphéroïde terrestre' [On the theory of the orientation of the oscillatory plane of the simple pendulum: and its application to the search for flattening of the terrestrial spheroid] by Cândido Baptista d'Oliveira, 10 January 1853, AP/34/18, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_34_18/unpublished-paper-sur-la-théorie-de-lorientation-du-plan-oscillatoire-du-pendule-simple-et-son-application-à-la-recherche-daplatissement-du-sphéroïde-terrestre-on-the-theory-of-the-orientation-of-the-oscillatory-plane-of-the-simple-pendulum-and-its-application-to-the-search-for-flattening-of-the-terrestrial-spheroid-by-cândido-baptista-doliveira, accessed on 16 May 2025

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_34_18/unpublished-paper-sur-la-théorie-de-lorientation-du-plan-oscillatoire-du-pendule-simple-et-son-application-à-la-recherche-daplatissement-du-sphéroïde-terrestre-on-the-theory-of-the-orientation-of-the-oscillatory-plane-of-the-simple-pendulum-and-its-application-to-the-search-for-flattening-of-the-terrestrial-spheroid-by-cândido-baptista-doliveira

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