Facts about Blaise:

Blaise Pascal was born at Cermont - Ferrand on June 19, 1623.

At the age of 12, Blaise composed a theory on the communication of sounds.

At the age of 16, he composed another theory on conic sections.

In order to help his father, who was the Royal Tax Commisioner at Rouen, he invented a calculating machine.

On the night of November 23, 1654, Pascal experienced a two-hour vision which led to his conversion. The account of this vision was kept in the lining of his coat at all times.

On August 17, 1662, Blaise Pascal died in Paris at the house of one of his sisters.

Pascal's scientific contributions:

Blaise Pascal is often given credit for the discovery of probability, mathematical theory, number theory, and geometry.

Toricelli's experiments with the barometer and theory of air pressure influenced Pascal to try the same experiment, but with more work. This led to the publication of Experiences nouvelles touchant le vide in 1647.

Pascal's two masterpieces are considered to be the "Proviniciales" and the "Pensees".

Pascal noted that the shape of a container has no effect on the pressure at any given depth. He was the first to discover that any change in pressure applied to a confined fluid at any given point is transmitted throughout the fluid. This became known as Pascal's Principle.

Quotes from Pascal:

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him. A vapor, a drop of water suffices to kill him. But, if the universe were to crush him, man would still be more noble than that which killed him, because he knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has over him, the universe knows nothing of this."

"All our dignity then, consists in thought. By it we must elevate ourselves, and not by space and time which we cannot fill. Let us endevour then, to think well, this is the priciple of morality."

Now that you've finished reading, let's have a little quiz:

question 1: When was Blaise born?

question 2: Where was Blaise born?

question 3: What two works are considered to be Pascal's masterpieces?

question 4: When and where did Blaise die?

question 5: How old was Blaise when he composed a theory on the communication of sounds?

question 6: Why did Pascal invent a calculating machine?

*look in the page to find the answers

Sources:

1. Http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11511a.htm

2. Http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/pascal.html

3. http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Pascal.html

4. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Pascal.html

5. http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~dee/ENLIGHT/PASCAL.HTM