Léon Foucault quotes

The phenomenon develops calmly, but it is invisible, unstoppable. One feels, one sees it born and grow steadily; and it is not in one's power to either hasten or slow it down. (Léon Foucault)
To contribute usefully to the advance of science, one must sometimes not disdain from undertaking simple verifications. View quote
Léon Foucault
You are invited to come to see the Earth turn, tomorrow, from three to five, at Meridian Hall of the Paris Observatory. View quote
Léon Foucault
Above all, we must be accurate, and it is an obligation which we intend to fulfil scrupulously. View quote
Léon Foucault
May those men who are animated by the true scientific spirit cease to believe that they are obliged to consider only subjects of public utility; ...because, one must not hide it, the field of applications, so rich and fertile today, would not take long to be blighted by sterility if it ceased to be fertilized and revivified by the beneficial light which theoretical research radiates and pours incessantly upon it. View quote
Léon Foucault
Any person, brought into the presence of this fact, stops for a few moments and remains pensive and silent; and then generally leaves, carrying with him forever a sharper, keener sense of our incessant motion through space. View quote
Léon Foucault
The phenomenon develops calmly, but it is invisible, unstoppable. View quote
Léon Foucault