About Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal was born on June 19th, 1623 to Etienne Pascal (a judge, and later, tax collector) and Antoinette Begon, in Clermont-Ferrand, in the South West of France. He had two sisters; one, Gilberte, older by two years; the other, Jacqueline, younger by two years.

Blaise Pascal died in Paris on August 19th, 1662, at age 39. Though his life was relatively short, and his death pre-mature, his productivity was great, leaving contributions to physics, mathematics, French literature, religious writing, and philosophy as his legacy. A few of those contributions are:

• In 1639, when he was only 16, young Blaise wrote a paper in projective geometry, Essai sur les Coniques, that revolutionized this geometric subdiscipline. (At first, René Descartes refused to believe that a 16 year-old could produce such important work).
• In 1642, when he was 19, Pascal designed a mechanical calculator that could add and subtract. Pascal’s mechanical calculator is arguably the first such calculating machine ever built.
• In 1646-1648, Pascal used a controlled version of Evariste Torricelli’s inverted quicksilver column experiment to show that air pressure varies according to altitude.
• In 1654, in collaboration with Pierre de Fermat, Pascal worked out the basis of mathematical probability theory.
• In 1656-1657, Pascal attacked the Society of Jesus in a series of witty, anonymous letters, known as The Provincial Letters, trying to fight the influence of the Jesuits in France. The Provincial Letters are credited with single-handedly changing the meaning of “casuistry” (which formerly had meant the Jesuit use of case-studies in their moral philosophy) to mean “sophistry”. The Provincial Letters are so well-written that they are still regarded as models of French literature.
• In 1658-1662, Pascal worked on the Apology for the Christian Religion, the notes for which have come down to us as the Pensées. Among these notes is the fragment entitled “Infini. Rien.” in which Pascal develops the famous Wager Argument for the existence of God. The Wager Argument is an original application of mathematical probability theory to a question of natural theology.
• In 1662, Pascal launched an omnibus service in Paris, “les carrosses à cinq sols” (five-penny carriages) to help the poor. The service runs for 17 years after his death.