Well I just got this in an email. Hey, gang: For those of you who wondered where things stood on an answer to the question of whether Foucault pendulums are affected by forces during a Total Solar Eclipse, here's a response I've just received from Dr. David Noever, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. I believe Dr. Noever is the lead scientist for the Allais Global Gravity Experiment. A lot of interesting stuff here. -Thanks for your email which was forwarded to my attention. We are no less excited as time passes in the analysis and as we uncover a very extensive historical scientific interest in this fascinating and rather mysterious question. I can only report that we will discuss any results after going through the scientific peer review process. As Professor Allais indicated to us in his latest September 19 letter: It is best to proceed in this field methodically. I can indicate some online sources of information that may assist in understanding the goals and methods of the experiment. A relatively complete set of links is available at http://naturalscience.com/ns/letters/ns_let23.html >The historically important scientific papers now are online > >There are previous pictures available at >http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/Eclipse_Mishra.html > >And although we have no association with these sites, the original pictures >from Allais' work are available now online at: >http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/7919/Allais.htm > >And also the Harvard study >http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/7919/Saxl.htm > >The most current updated website is in Vienna. > >The Vienna Research group has the following site online: >http://amok.astro.univie.ac.at/~wuchterl/Foucault/ >It is in german for the moment. > >We are still analyzing the results, which should be available following >submission for peer review. >And the rough text translation from Canadian French to English: >From http://www.cybersciences.com/cyber/3.0/n1404.asp >http://www.cybersciences.com/Cyber/3.0/N1388.asp >> > Pendulums and eclipses >> > Which forces affect the Foucault pendulums at the time of eclipses? > > While waiting for the most recent data, here is an assessment of the >contradictory observations carried out since 1954. >> > Do the pendulums of Foucault oscillate oddly at the time of the solar >eclipses? And if so, why? Many readers wrote in Cybersciences to know what >was the result of the experiments carried out on last 11 August. >Unfortunately, the experiment is not finished yet: the researchers also >wish to accumulate data (possibly relevant) when the moon is in >opposition, August 25. While waiting for the results, here's more >information on this scientific enigma. >> >>The initial experiment of Maurice Allais took place in 1954. It consisted >>in launching a pendulum every 14 minutes, then to follow its evolution >>thereafter. An eclipse occurred during the 30 days that the experiments >>lasted. The pendulum then made a jump of 13,5 degrees before returning in >>its normal state at the end of the eclipse, two hours and half later. The >>researcher obtained a comparable result in the 1959 eclipse. >> >> One suspects that a gravitational effect is in question, but >>two measurements taken by a gravimeter in Scotland (1954), then in Italy >>(1965) do not give anything. On the other hand, in 1970, an eclipse again >>oscillated a pendulum in Boston. The data point out those of Maurice >>Allais, but the gravitational theory does not manage to explain them. " >> The Allais Effect ", as one starts to call it, was recorded once more in >>Romania, in 1981, on a pendulum. >> >> On the other hand, another experiment on a pendulum carried >>out in Finland in 1990 does not give anything. The same team of >>researchers led a new experiment to Mexico City in 1991 and this time, it >>concluded: " Perhaps ". The most recent test took place in India in 1995. >>This time, it is a gravimeter which recorded the Allais effect. The >>researchers recommended to carry out a series of additional experiments at >>the time of eclipses in a network. The planetary effort of August 11 was >>coordinated by Marshall Space Flight Center of NASA. It included a group >>of pendulums and gravimeters located in seven countries, all along the >>zone affected by the eclipse.