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Ask and ye shall receive - this for Walter from an off-list correspondant:

Peter. I did my PhD on pendulous gyroscopes. Part of my field wok was made
at a station in latitude S80 degrees. I found the latitude of this station
from my gyroscope observations to within two of arc. Of course nothing works
at the pole. George.

> > Walter Guinon wrote:
> >
> > > Is the behavior of a pendulum a useful indication of nearness to the
pole?
> > >
> > Peter Fogg wrote:
> > Don't know, but among their lists of indispensable equipment to bring
for
> > hanging around the pole I've come across no mention of pendulums. My
> > understanding of the method used was observations of the sun over a 24
hour
> > period. After allowance for change of declination the altitude should
remain
> > the same all around the horizon at the pole.
> > Another little mystery is why they used sextants rather than
theodolites,
> > which would seem to be more useful for the purpose.
>
>

   

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