Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal (19 Juin 1623 – 19 August 1662) wis a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer an Catholic philosophour. He wis a bairn prodigy that wis eddicated bi his faither, a tax collector in Rouen. Pascal's earliest wark wis in the naitural an applee'd sciences whaur he makkit important contreibutions tae the study o fluids, an clarified the concepts o pressur an vacuum bi generalisin the wark o Evangelista Torricelli. Pascal wrote in defence o the scienteefic method an aw.

Blaise Pascal
Pentin o Blaise Pascal made bi François II Quesnel for Gérard Edelinck in 1691.
Born	19 Juin 1623(1623-06-19) Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne, Fraunce
Dee'd	19 August 1662(1662-08-19) (aged 39) Paris, Fraunce
Residence	Fraunce
Naitionality	French
Releegion	Roman Catholic
Era	17t-century philosophour
Region	Wastren filosofie
Schuil	Jansenism Proto-existentialism
Main interests	Theology Mathematics Philosofie Pheesics
Notable ideas	Pascal's Wager Pascal's triangle Pascal's law Pascal's theorem
Influences St. Augustine o Hippo Michel de Montaigne René Descartes Cornelius Jansen Epictetus
Influenced Antoine Arnauld Pierre Duhem William James G. W. Leibniz Léon Brunschvicg Alexis de Tocqueville Henri Bergson

In 1642, while still a teenager, he stairted some pioneerin wark on calculatin machines. Efter three years o effort an 50 prototeeps,^[1] he biggit 20 feenisht machines (cawed Pascal's calculators an later Pascalines) ower the follaein 10 years,^[2] foondit him as ane o the first twa inventors o the mechanical calculator.^[3][4]

Pascal wis an important mathematician, helpin creaut twa major new auries o resairch: he wrote a signeeficant treatise on the subject o projective geometry at the age o 16, an later correspondit wi Pierre de Fermat on probability theory, strangly influencin the development o modren economics an social science. Follaein Galileo Galilei an Torricelli, in 1647, he rebuttit Aristotle's follaers that insistit that naitur abhors a vacuum. Pascal's results caused mony disputes afore bein acceptit.

In 1646, he an his sister Jacqueline identifeed wi the releegious muivement within Catholicism kent bi its detractors as Jansenism.^[5] Follaein a releegious experience in late 1654, he begoud writin influential warks on filosofie an theology. His twa maist famous warks date frae this period: the Lettres provinciales an the Pensées, the umwhile set in the conflict atween Jansenists an Jesuits. In that year, he wrat an important treatise aboot the arithmetical triangle an aw. Atween 1658 an 1659, he wrote aboot the cycloid an its uise in calculatin the vollum o solits.

Ootthrou his life, Pascal wis in fail halth, espeicially efter the age o 18; he dee'd juist twa month efter his 39t birthday.^[6]