Gravity Pendulum
notes: label: Description
content: The pine box holding this pendulum is marked "To Prof. T. C. Mendenhall Columbus, Ohio U.S.A." and "D Pendulum box June 18th 1882 Phy Laby Tokio." The reference is to Thomas C. Mendenhall, an American physicist who taught at the Imperial University in Tokyo in the years 1878-1881, used gravity pendulums at Tokyo and atop Mount Fuji, and calculated the mean density of the earth. Mendenhall probably used this pendulum in Japan, but did not mention it in his published papers. He returned to the United States in 1881, and taught physics at the Ohio State University, in Columbus. He became superintendent of the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey in 1889.
label: Description
content: Ref: Victor Lenzen and Robert Multhauf, "Development of Gravity Pendulums in the 19th Century," <i>United States National Museum Bulletin</i> 240 (1965): 301-348.
label: Description
content: Henry Crew, "Thomas Corwin Mendenhall," <i>National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs</i> 16 (1934): 331-351.
label: Description
content: T. C. Mendenhall, "Determination of the Acceleration due to the Force of Gravity, at Tokio, Japan," <i>American Journal of Science</i> 20 (1880): 124-132.
label: Description
content: T. C. Mendenhall, "On a Determination of the Force of Gravity at the Summit of Fujiyama, Japan," <i>American Journal of Science</i> 21 (1881): 99-103.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.330511
label: catalog number
content: 330511
label: accession number
content: 295269
objectType: label: Object Name
content: gravity pendulum
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 48 1/8 in; 122.2375 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall weight: 132 oz
label: Measurements
content: overall: container: 4 1/2 in x 7 in x 50 in; 11.43 cm x 17.78 cm x 127 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: p0783: 18 in x 60 in x 48 in; 45.72 cm x 152.4 cm x 121.92 cm