Historical Figures Codexery

Blaise Pascal

French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer

His work on probability with Pierre de Fermat and his philosophical writings, including the Pensées, remain influential.[1][2] In 1642, he began developing a mechanical calculator (later called the Pascaline), and he is also recognized for creating the first modern public transport service, the carrosses à cinq sols, shortly before his death in 1662.[1][3]

Quick Facts

Born
19 June 1623
Birthplace
Clermont-Ferrand, France
Died
19 August 1662
Place of death
Paris, France
Father
Étienne Pascal
Relatives
  • Marguerite Périer (niece)
  • Jacqueline Pascal (sister)
  • Gilberte Périer (sister)
Region
Western philosophy
Era
17th-century philosophy

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Pascal was educated at home by his father Étienne, a tax collector and amateur mathematician, after losing his mother at age three.[1][4] By age 12 he had independently rediscovered Euclid's first thirty-two geometric propositions using charcoal on a tile floor.[5] At 16 he wrote a significant treatise on conic sections, which René Descartes initially believed was written by Pascal's father.[6][1] In 1642, to help his father with tax calculations, Pascal built a mechanical calculator that could add and subtract.[7]

The Pascaline was expensive and cumbersome, becoming a status symbol rather than a commercial success.[8] In 1654, after a correspondence with Fermat on gambling problems, Pascal helped found the mathematical theory of probability.[4] That same year he wrote his Traité du triangle arithmétique, describing what is now called Pascal's triangle and stating the principle of mathematical induction.[9][10] Following a religious experience in November 1654, he wrote the Lettres provinciales and the Pensées, which contains his famous probabilistic argument for belief in God known as Pascal's wager.[2][11]

He also conducted experiments proving that air pressure decreases with altitude, using a barometer carried up the Puy de Dôme and a Paris bell tower.[12][13]

What the cited sources add

The 1893 book by d'Ocagne states that Pascal has the glory of not only having the first idea of a calculating machine but also of having realized it.[14] The Wikisource edition of Pascal's writings on the arithmetic machine includes a dedicatory letter to Monseigneur le Chancelier and the privilege granted for the machine in 1649.[15]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Blaise Pascal" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Marguin, "Histoire des instruments et machines à calculer, trois siècles de mécanique pensante 1642–1942", Hermann, 1994, p. 48; d'Ocagne, "Le calcul simplifié", Gauthier-Villars et fils, 1893, p. 245 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Blaise Pascal" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Grumball, "Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy", University of Nottingham; "Internet History Sourcebooks", sourcebooks.fordham.edu (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Blaise Pascal" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jarrett, "One of the Greatest Inventions in the History of Human Transport", Human Transit, 2024-12-31 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Blaise Pascal" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Devlin, p. 20 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Blaise Pascal" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Blaise Pascal Biography, Facts, & Inventions Britannica", www.britannica.com, 2024-04-08; Cole, J. R. (1995). Pascal : the man and his two loves. United Kingdom: NYU Press. p. 40 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Blaise Pascal" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: The Story of Civilization: Volume 8, "The Age of Louis XIV" by Will & Ariel Durant; chapter II, subsection 4.1 p. 56 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Blaise Pascal" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: A complete list of known Pascalines and also a review of contemporary replicas can be found at Surviving Pascalines and Replica Pascalines at http://things-that (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Blaise Pascal" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zirpolo, "Christina of Sweden's Patronage of Bernini: The Mirror of Truth Revealed by Time", Woman's Art Journal, 2005, p. 38–43; (fr) La Machine d'arithmétique, Blaise Pascal , Wikisource; Mourlevat, "Les machines arithmétiques de Blaise Pascal", La Française d'Édition et d'Imprimerie, 1988, p. 12 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Blaise Pascal" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Katz, "A History of Mathematics: An Introduction", Addison-Wesley, 2009, p. 491; "Pascal's triangle World of Mathematics Summary" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Blaise Pascal" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Katz, "A History of Mathematics: An Introduction", Addison-Wesley, 2009, p. 491; Kieren MacMillan, Jonathan Sondow, "Proofs of power sum and binomial coefficient congruences via Pascal's identity", American Mathematical Monthly, 2011, p. 549–551 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Blaise Pascal" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pascal, Blaise. Oeuvres complètes. (Paris: Seuil, 1960), p. 618 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Blaise Pascal" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ley, "The Re-Designed Solar System", June 1966, p. 94–106 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Blaise Pascal" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rougier, "– Chapitre XI – La Grande expérience de l'équilibre des liqueurs", Philosophia Scientiæ. Travaux d'histoire et de philosophie des sciences, 2010-10-01, p. 196–206 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  14. d'Ocagne, "Le calcul simplifié", Gauthier-Villars et fils, 1893, p. 245. facts only, no text reused. cnum.cnam.fr
  15. (fr) La Machine d'arithmétique, Blaise Pascal , Wikisource. facts only, no text reused. fr.wikisource.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Blaise Pascal (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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