The Foucault Pendulum of the Phanar Greek Orthodox College in Istanbul: The First in Istanbul?

Yıl 2023, Cilt: 24 Sayı: 2, 723 - 741, 06.07.2023

Panagiotis Lazos

https://doi.org/10.26650/oba.1284348

Öz

Foucault’s pendulum is one of the most important scientific achievements of the French physicist Léon Foucault. The performance of the experiment in 1851 was the first tangible proof of the Earth’s rotation. The relative technical simplicity and beauty of the experiment led to many repetitions of it, the manufacture of related pendulums by scientific instrument manufacturers, and the permanent or temporary installation of such pendulums in educational institutions for teaching as well as aesthetic reasons. The Phanar Greek Orthodox College in İstanbul is the oldest operating school of the city’s Greek community. After many moves during the first four centuries of its operation, the College found a permanent home in an impressive privately owned building in Fener in 1881. The building hosts a rich collection of scientific instruments, acquired mainly in the last quarter of the 19th century by French manufacturers and at the beginning of the 20th by Germans and Austrians. In 1912 special changes were made to the building to house a Foucault pendulum which was manufactured by the German company Max Kohl. This paper presents the history of this device, which is one of the first (perhaps the first) used in the Ottoman Empire.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Foucault pendulum, Phanar Greek Orthodox College, Max Kohl, Istanbul, Physics, Greek School

Teşekkür

I would like to thank DR. Seref Etker, the discussions with which led to the writing of this article, Prof. Dr. Feza Günergun for her help and support and Mr Athanasios Aggelidis for his deep devotion to the Phanar Greek Orthodox College and his help in the study of its collection.

İstanbul Fener Rum Ortodoks Lisesi’nin Foucault Sarkacı: İstanbul’da Bir İlk mi?

Öz

Foucault sarkacı, Fransız fizikçi Léon Foucault’nun en önemli başarılarından biridir. Bu alet ile 1851 yılında gerçekleştirilen deney, Yer’in döndüğüne ilk somut kanıtı getirmiştir. Deneyin teknik basitliği ve güzelliği çok kere tekrarlanmasına ve bilimsel alet yapımcıları tarafından çok sayıda sarkacın üretilmesine sebep olmuştur. Böylelikle sarkaçlar, gerek öğretim amaçlı olarak gerekse estetiği sebebiyle eğitim kurumlarında kalıcı veya süreli olarak yer bulmuştur. İstanbul’daki Fener Rum Ortodoks Lisesi, Rum toplumunun bu şehirde faaliyette bulunan en eski okuludur. Kuruluşunu izleyen ilk dört yüz yıl içinde çok kez yer değiştiren okul, 1881’den beri Fener semtinde, özel mülk olan heybetli binasında eğitim vermektedir. Okulun çok zengin bir bilimsel alet koleksiyonu vardır. Aletlerin büyük kısmı 19. yüzyılın son çeyreği Fransız ve 20. yüzyıl başı Alman ve Avusturyalı üreticilerinin elinden çıkmıştır. Aralarında, Alman şirketi Max Kohl tarafından üretilen ve 1912’de satın alınan bir Foucault sarkacı vardır. Aletin gelmesiyle okulun binasında özel değişiklikler yapılmıştır. Bu çalışma, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’ndaki ilk sarkaç olabileceğini düşündüğümüz aletin hikâyesini sunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Foucault sarkacı, Fener Rum Erkek Lisesi, Max Kohl, Istanbul, Fizik, Rum okulu

Kaynakça

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