Therefore, the triangle is named after him. In addition to his contributions to the field … In the last treatise, a fragment of the De Alea Geometriae, he laid the foundations for the calculus of probabilities. Copyright © (2016 - 2021) Historyly.com. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Blaise-Pascal, The Story of Mathematics - 17th Century Mathematics - Pascal, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Biography of Blaise Pascal, Blaise Pascal - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Blaise Pascal - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Pascal was a child prodigy tutored and educated by his father Etienne Pascal. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. When writing about Blaise Pascal inventions, his law of hydrostatics has to be mentioned. He came out strongly in support of Jansenists in a rather witty way, thereby, causing great uproar in the Jesuit community. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. His father, Étienne, was a civil servant and served as king's counselor. Blaise Pascal wrote a number of precocious mathematical treatises before the age of 18 and discovered what is now known as Pascal's theorem, regarding conical sections in projective geometry, at the age of 16. Blaise Pascal invented the syringe. Etienne was a tax collector and talented mathematician and Antoinette died when Blaise was a baby, as a result of which he was very close to his elder sisters who raised him. To do so, he reproduced and amplified experiments on atmospheric pressure by constructing mercury barometers and measuring air pressure, both in Paris and on the top of a mountain overlooking Clermont-Ferrand. He was born on June 19, 1623 to Etienne and Antoinette Pascal. The genius’s contribution to calculating and computing could never be forgotten, and in order to recognize his contributions, Wirth named his new computing language Pascal. Also Read: 15 Marie Curie Facts you should Know. In the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Etienne was a civil servant and was a member of noblesse de robe, the French aristocratic class. But, these survived to influence the writings of French writers like Voltaire. Blaise Pascal, né le 19 juin 1623 à Clermont (aujourd'hui Clermont-Ferrand) en Auvergne et mort le 19 août 1662 à Paris, est un mathématicien, physicien, inventeur, philosophe, moraliste et théologien français . An illness of his father, however, brought Blaise into contact with a more profound expression of religion, for he met two disciples of the abbé de Saint-Cyran, who, as director of the convent of Port-Royal, had brought the austere moral and theological conceptions of Jansenism into the life and thought of the convent. For me, Blaise Pascal is a true hero because all his inventions and contributions are very helpful in today's world. Revendication : Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat invented probability theory to solve a gambling problem. Therefore, it was concluded by Pascal that atmospheric pressure decreased with an increase in height. This great scientist and mathematician suffered from sickness all throughout his adult life. Blaise Pascal laid the foundation for the modern theory of probabilities, formulated what came to be known as Pascal’s principle of pressure, and propagated a religious doctrine that taught the experience of God through the heart rather than through reason. He laid the foundation for the modern theory of probabilities, formulated what came to be known as Pascal’s principle of pressure, and propagated a religious doctrine that taught the experience of God through the heart rather than through reason. Pascal’s mother Antoinette passed away when he was merely a toddler. It was in 1642 that Blaise Pascal, in his endeavor to help his father to solve tedious tax calculations, invented the first and world’s only fully functional mechanical calculator. Go to the Index of 120 Philosophers Squared Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662) was a French mathematician, inventor, and philosopher. Blaise Pascal never went to school,… Pensees is regarded as a gem of French prose and a landmark as well. Drawing of the Pascaline calculator designed by Blaise Pascal. Blaise Pascal got religious visions in 1654 leading him to write 18 letters from 1656 to 1657. Blaise Pascal, né le 19 juin 1623 à Clermont-Ferrand en Auvergne, mort le 19 août 1662 à Paris, est un mathématicien, physicien, inventeur, philosophe, moraliste et théologien français. When Pascal was just one year old, he fell seriously sick in which he was affected with swollen abdomen and random fits and twists. Pascal was also given lessons on the Bible as well as civil law. Please select which sections you would like to print: While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Before Pascal popularized the Pascal’s Triangle in 1653, the western world had little clue about its existence, though, the concept of tabular presentation of arithmetic was invented in 2nd century BC by Pingala, an Indian mathematician. Blaise Pascal, (born June 19, 1623, Clermont-Ferrand, France—died August 19, 1662, Paris), French mathematician, physicist, religious philosopher, and master of prose. It was after he reached 31 years of age when Pascal redirected his life and purpose towards fulfilling religious pursuits instead of scientific ones. He started drawing geometrical figures all by himself and drew conclusions on his own. Until 1646 the Pascal family held strictly Roman Catholic principles, though they often substituted l’honnêteté (“polite respectability”) for inward religion. Pascal’s invention of the mechanical calculator in 1641 was borne out of a desire to help his father in collecting taxes. This law is the underlying principle of the hydraulic press that worked by using hydraulic pressure which multiplies force. The modern day syringe was also invented by Blaise Pascal on the basis of Pascal’s Law. In 1654 Blaise invented the roulette machine with other inventor, Pierre de Fermat. Most people attributed the reason to witchcraft. Blaise Pascal était un mathématicien, un physicien et un philosophe religieux français, qui a jeté les bases de la théorie moderne des probabilités. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The two works for which he is chiefly known, Les Provinciales and the Pensées, date from the years of his life spent at Port-Royal. This theory led to many innovative changes in concepts and ideas in the fields of social science and economics. This genius mathematician was also a great writer of French prose and is famous for his works that include Pensees and Letters Provinciales. -Pascal invented the Pascalines or Pascal’s calculator. He built 50 of them over the next 10 years. The theory of probability. Pascal invented the machine for his father, a tax collector, so it was the first business machine too (if one does not count the abacus ). Throughout his life, Blaise Pascal remained sickly, always in pain or on some kind of medication. Brothers Deschamps were the best bone setters of that time, and were called upon for the treatment. Q: What did lebbiniz develop? Birth-Death Oct 4, 1629. He was a great philosopher, who, at 23 years of age converted from Christianity to Jansenism. Director of Studies, Religious Sciences Division, Institute for Advanced Research, Paris. He entered Port-Royal in January 1655, and though he never became one of the solitaires, he thereafter wrote only at their request and never again published in his own name. Blaise Pascal founded a direct relation between atmospheric pressure and height when Florin Perier, his brother in law conducted an experiment at Puy-de-Dome in France. This blog tells us about his life, inventions, and different areas of interest. Also Read: 15 Mesopotamia Achievements & Inventions. In his letters, he mocked the various Jesuit institutions and garnered much aplomb from the public. Pascal’s friend wanted to figure out the best time to bet on a dice game, and how to fairly divide the stakes if the game was stopped midway through. He was the second person known to have created a device of this kind. At the age of 18, Blaise invented a numeric wheel calculator, referred to as Pascaline. All of the above mentioned Blaise Pascal inventions and facts will help you understand the contributions of this great French mathematician who was also an influential theologist, scientist and a philosopher of the 17th century. We do not have the time when the watch was discovered. We hope we have honored his legacy by covering these interesting facts about his life and works in today’s post. Oct 11, 1663. Frances Blaise Pascal invents the machine, called the Pascaline, that can add, subtract, and carry between digits. If you win, you win all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Quotations from Blaise Pascal 1. The device could perform addition, subtraction, and multiplication and division by repetition. This society was called Académie libre, and Blaise took an instant liking to it. Blaise Pascal simply improvised the use by tying it on his wrist using a string. It was at 12 years age that Blaise started showing an avid interest in geometry. His best-known philosophical invention was Pascal's Wager, the argument that pragmatism demands living your life as if God exists, because you will lose little if God is a myth but stand to gain immeasurably (eternal life) if God is real [source: Honderich; "Pascal's Wager" ]. The man who gave us the world’s first mechanical calculator Pascaline – Blaise Pascal was a child prodigy, a great scientist, a philosopher, a prolific writer and a mathematician of French origin. Pascal's Triangle provides a remarkably elegant way to calculate binomial coefficients, a set of numbers that are important in algebra and elsewhere. An interesting trivia in this list of Blaise Pascal facts relates to his education. This conversion was the starting point for Pascal as far as religious pursuits were concerned and is known as the ‘First Conversion’. 14 Facts about W.EB. They lived with the Pascal family for about three months during which they motivated them to join their movement by preaching their beliefs. While experimenting, Pascal invented the syringe and created the hydraulic press, an instrument based upon the principle that became known as Pascal’s principle: pressure applied to a confined liquid is transmitted undiminished through the liquid in all directions regardless of the area to which the pressure is applied. The young Blaise was taught less of mathematics, and more of history, philosophy, geography, languages like Greek and Latin. He is credited with inventing an early calculator, amazingly advanced for its time, called the Pascaline. Blaise Pascal was a famous French mathematician, physicist and inventor of the 17th century. Il contribue de manière importante à l’étude des fluides. Blaise was three years old at the time and had two sisters, Gilberte and Jacqueline. Things are true or false depending on… It was in 1654 that Blaise Pascal denounced his scientific pursuits forever and went religious. He was trying to make improvement to his mechanical calculator, Pascaline, and in doing so, accidentally discovered the roulette machine. Blaise Pascal invented the wrist watch and was the first man to wear it. These brothers belonged to Jansenism movement and believed in living an austere and god fearing life. It is speculated that roulette was invented in China and that arrived to … Absorbed again in his scientific interests, he tested the theories of Galileo and Evangelista Torricelli (an Italian physicist who discovered the principle of the barometer). The convent at Port-Royal had become the centre for the dissemination of the doctrine. Omissions? In the 1640s mathematician Blaise Pascal invented the Pascaline, an early calculator, and further validated Evangelista Torricelli's theory concerning the cause of barometrical variations. Les premiers travaux de Pascal concernent les sciences naturelles et appliquées. Pascal, red crayon drawing by Jean Domat, c. 1649. Young Blaise discovered a new geometrical theorem at age 16 and went on to become a mathematician, physicist, philosopher, writer and inventor. On being confronted, the woman accepted to have cast an evil spell on Pascal. This included religious writings that he continued with till he passed away at 39.