Pascal,+Blaise



Biography of Blaise Pascal

Even though Blaise Pascal led a relatively short life by today’s standard, a mere 39, his life was filled with many remarkable moments, and an astounding amount of brilliance. Not only was Pascal considered to be a mathematician, but also he was a scientist, and he published his ideas about religion and in defense of religion.

Pascal was born on June 19, 1623 in Clermont-Ferrandon, and was the son of Etienne Pascal, who was a judge for the tax court. Pascal’s mother died in 1626, when he was only three. Pascal was one of three children; Gilberte, and Jacqueline were his sisters. Etienne moved the family to Paris in 1631, it is thought that he was following his scientific ideas, and looking to better Pascal’s education. Pascal’s was educated at home, mainly by his father and consisted of languages. Etienne even went so far as to ban Pascal from studying mathematics because he thought it would eventually monopolize his education. This inspired Pascal to ask his tutor about geometry, and then spent his free time pursing the interest. Due to this he began meeting weekly with other French mathematicians who studied geometry. This became the beginning of mathematical achievement for Pascal.

Some achievements of Pascal aside from mathematics include the Provincial Letters, the Pensees, and what is know as Pascal’s Law which was a result of his work with fluids and pressure. The Provincial Letters came when and influential writer was condemned, and Pascal wrote a series of letters under the pseudonym, Louis de Montalte, and they are dated from January 13, 1656 to March 24 1657. This series of letters was in defense of the writer, Antoine Arnauld, and they were written after Pascal and his sisters were influenced by the Jansenists, who held beliefs that were different than Jesuits, who held the more commonly accepted views in the Roman Catholic Church. Pensees were an unfinished work found after Pascal’s death, which was on August 19, 1662. It was published 8 years after his death and talked of the problems in faith vs. knowledge and reason, and free will and pre-knowledge. He was talking of feeling God with one’s heart, and not only practicing faith; that faith is not based on reason. He meant the reason can not possible hold all the answers, or shed light on every truth. Even though it didn’t show him as a gifted literary expert, it showed him as having important and influential religious views. Pascal’s law stated that: in a fluid at rest the pressure is transmitted equally throughout the liquid in all directions. This was published and shown in the Treatise on the Equilibrium of Liquids, a year after Pascal’s death. To discover this he reproduced studies with mercury barometers at different altitudes. He also published the problem of the vacuum, and the fact that air pressure can produce the vacuum. Pascal proved himself to be, in his 39 years, a widely diverse and accomplished man.

Mathematical Accomplishments

Some of the mathematical achievements of Pascal include, La Pascaline, the cycloid problem, the arithmetic triangle, which involved his work with probability, and what is known as Pascal’s Theorem. La Pascaline is essentially the earliest form of the calculator. However, it could only add and subtract. It is thought that Pascal developed this to help his father with his calculations as a tax collector. Pascal began in 1640 and it took 4 years to fine-tune it. Pascal was concerned with the cycloid problem after he entered the Jansenist convent at Port Royale, and this happened to be where most other mathematicians were concerned at the time. This problem involved the curve and finding the area of a curve, and this was found by fixing a point on the outside of a circle and turning it as if it were a wheel. Pascal eventually ended up publishing his findings without solid proof, meaning to challenge other mathematicians who were also working on the problem. Pascal’s Triangle is another name for the arithmetic triangle used in Pascal’s study of probability. Pascal found that the triangle, that is made by starting with a one in the upper left hand corner of the triangle and then adding the number to the left of the place is added to the number above it, can be used to calculate probabilities. Pascal’s Theorem involves projective geometry which is concerned with lines planes and points either meeting each other or not. Pascal’s Theorem is concerned with conic space and conic sections and that if a hexagram is placed in these conic sections it will meet in three collinear points, meaning they are found on the same point. He described this using what he called a mystic hexagram, and also described the six different types of conic sections; a point, a straight line, an angle, a closed figure, (meaning a circle or ellipse), a parabola, or a hyperbola. This idea was published when Pascal was 16, and these accomplishments have shown Pascal to be a worthy mathematician.

Bibliography for Famous Mathematicians Project "Blaise Pascal." __World Book Encyclopedia__. 2003 ed. "Blaise Pascal." __The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography__. 1973 ed. Bellis, Mary. __Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)__. 2008 About.com. 2/25/08 . **Pascal, Blaise**." __Encyclopædia Britannica__. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.  25  Feb.  2008 .   Chew, Julia. __Accomplishments__. 2/26/08 .

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