Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
Author of Pensées
About the Author
French Mathematician Blaise Pascal did much to set in motion what is known today as modern mathematics. An unusually creative mathematician, he developed a number of theorems and mathematical structures, including the beginnings of probability theory and a more sophisticated understanding of the show more geometry of conic structures. At the age of 16, Pascal wrote a brilliant paper on conics; the paper consisted of one single printed page on which he states his major theorem - the opposite sides of any hexagon inscribed in a cone intersect in a straight line. This theorem led Pascal to develop several hundred related theorems in geometry. Pascal's activities, however, were not confined to pure mathematics. When he was about 19 years old, he built a calculating machine that he demonstrated to the king of France. It worked well enough to allow him to build and sell about 50 of them over a few years' time. His work on problems in atmospheric pressure eventually resulted in an early version of the gas law. At the age of 25, Pascal entered a Jansenist monastery to begin an ascetic life of study and argument. However, he continued his mathematical work. With Pierre de Fermat, Pascal laid the foundation for the theory of probability. In 1654, Pascal's friend, the Chevelier de Mere, had asked him to analyze a problem arising from a game of chance. Pascal in turn exchanged a number of letters with Fermat about the problem. This correspondence became the starting point for a theory of probability. However, neither published the ideas developed in the correspondence. The letters did inspire one of Pascal's contemporaries, Christian Huygens of Holland, to publish in 1657 a short tract on the mathematics of games involving dice. Pascal's name is now attached to "Pascals' Triangle" of binomial coefficients which plays and important role in the study combinations and probability. The triangle was known at least 600 years before Pascal became interested in it, but because of his contributions to its study, the triangle eventually became associated with his name. A sensitive and temperamental man, Pascal was obsessed with religious philosophy, a subject on which he wrote extensively. In his general philosophy he was very much taken with the concept of the infinite, which unsettled him and inspired in him a sense of awe. Over a period of years, he wrote on many religious, philosophical, and mathematical subjects. His notes and letters were edited and published posthumously as his Pensees. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Series
Works by Blaise Pascal
The Mind on Fire: An Anthology of the Writings of Blaise Pascal (Classics of Faith and Devotion) (1989) 269 copies
Pensees: No 1 18 copies
Selected "Pensees" and Provincial Letters/Pensees et Provinciales choisies: A Dual-Language Book (Dover Dual Language… (2004) 17 copies
Tankar. 2 11 copies
Gedanken : eine Auswahl 11 copies
Pascal 6 copies
Scientific Treatises 6 copies
The physical treatises of Pascal; the equilibrium of liquids and the weight of the mass of the air (1973) 6 copies
Pensées sur la religion et sur quelques autres sujets, qui ont esté trouvées après sa mort parmy ses papiers (2011) 6 copies
Coleção Grandes Obras do Pensamento Universal (pascal - Do Espítito Geométrico / Pensamentos) (2006) 5 copies
Pensamentos escolhidos 5 copies
(Blaise) Pascal Pensées / Brunschvicg / Léon Brunschvicg --- (Edition Lutetia - Nelson Editeurs Paris -… (1949) 4 copies
uvres compltes / 3 copies
Die Kunst zu überzeugen und die anderen kleineren philosophischen und religiösen Schriften (1963) 3 copies
Les provinciales : (extraits) avec une notice biographique une notice historique et littéraire 3 copies
The life of Mr. Paschal with his letters relating to the Jesuits. In two volumes. Translated into English by W. A. (2010) 3 copies
Pascal 3 copies
Tankar och Smärre Skrifter 3 copies
Blaise Pascal : Oeuvres compltes - annotes et en franais moderne - Arvensa Editions (French Edition) 3 copies
Opuscoli e lettere 2 copies
Les provinciales : extraits 2 copies
Thoughts [Part I] 2 copies
Gedanken 2 copies
Os pensadores: Pascal 2 copies
L'œuvre de Pascal 2 copies
Myśli oraz Rozprawa o kondycji możnych ; Modlitwa o dobry użytek chorób ; Rozprawa o namiętnościach… (2004) 2 copies
Les provinciales II 2 copies
Lettres crites un provincial / 2 copies
Oeuvres Completes 2 copies
Thoughts [Part II] 2 copies
Le manuscrit des Pensées de Pascal 2 copies
Τα πάθη του έρωτα 2 copies
Opuscoli e lettere 2 copies
Blaise Pascal. Les Provinciales : . Écrits des curés de Paris. Pierre Nicole et Jean Racine. Lettres. Le Père… (1962) 2 copies
Pascal 2 copies
El la "Pensoj" de Blazio Paskalo 2 copies
Discours sur la religion et sur quelques autres sujets qui ont été trouvés après sa mort parmi ses papiers (1992) 2 copies
La morale dei gesuiti 2 copies
Svět Blaise Pascala 2 copies
Eloge et Pensees de Pascal: v. 80A (Oeuvres Completes de Voltaire) (Vol 80A) (French Edition) (2008) 2 copies
Pascal. Provinciales . Lettres I, II, IV, XIII, publiées avec une notice biographique, une notice… 1 copy
Pascal: Pensamentos 1 copy
Blaise Pascal. Lettres écrites à un Provincial : . Chronologie et introduction par Antoine Adam (1967) 1 copy
The Gospel of the Gospels: Abrege De LA Vie De Jesus Christ (Archives of Ancient Art) (English, French and French… (1999) 1 copy
Pascal Pens̩es 1 copy
Refleksije u samoći 1 copy
Pensieri Lettere provinciali 1 copy
Myšlenky 1 copy
Oeuvres De Blaise Pascal, Pub. Suivant L'ordre Chronologique Avec Documents Complémentaires, Introductions Et Notes,… (2012) 1 copy
Pascal. Pensées et Opuscules : . Avec une notice biographique, une notice historique et littéraire, des… (1954) 1 copy
LES PROVINCIALES de Blaise Pascal. Avec une préface et des notes par Auguste Molinier. (2 volumes) 1 copy
Les Pensées de Blaise Pascal. Texte revu sur le manuscrit autographe - Tome I et II - 2 volumes 1 copy
Lettre à un provincial 1 copy
Thoughts on Religion, and Other Curious Subjects. Written Originally in French by Monsieur Pascal. Translated Into… (2018) 1 copy
Œuvre 1 copy
On Geometrical Demonstration 1 copy
L'homme est un roseau pensant: Pensées (Liasses I-XV) (Folio Sagesses) (French Edition) (2016) 1 copy
Oeuvres choisies 1 copy
Pascal Oeuvres Completes 1 copy
Misli 1 copy
Lettres Provinciales: Book I 1 copy
Pensees and The Provincial Letters — Author — 1 copy
Pense¿¿es 1 copy
Lettres provinciales 1 copy
Minor Works of Blaise Pascal 1 copy
Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle ; Correspondence with Fermat on the Theory of Probabilities 1 copy
Scritti sulla grazia 1 copy
Les provinciales I 1 copy
Voilà ce que c'est que la foi: 15 textes présentés et commentés par Jean de Saint-Cheron (2023) 1 copy
Variety 1 copy
Pascal - De Store Tænkere 1 copy
Pensées - Enhanced Version 1 copy
Sentez 1 copy
Les Provinciales 1 copy
The Penses / 1 copy
Generation of conic sections 1 copy
Œuvres de Blaise Pascal 1 copy
Pensées, Fragments Et Lettres de Blaise Pascal, Vol. 2: Publiés pour la Première Fois Conformément aux Manuscrits… (2017) 1 copy
Das Ich besteht in meinem Denken: Aus den »Gedanken«. [Was bedeutet das alles?] (Reclams… (2017) 1 copy
Selections from the Thoughts of Pascal, translated from the French, with an introduction by Benjamin E. Smith (1902) 1 copy
[Pensieri] 2 1 copy
Pensées de Pascal, publiées d'après le texte authentique... avec des notes... et une notice… (1879) 1 copy
Scrieri alese 1 copy
Œuvres, tome IV 1 copy
Œuvres, tome V 1 copy
Pensieri Misero, grande uomo 1 copy
Tankar : II 1 copy
Les provinciales de Pascal 1 copy
Il mistero di Cristo : il Memoriale, il mistero di Gesù, dai Pensieri, compendio della vita di G. C. 1 copy
Blaise Pascal. Pensées et opuscules : Publiés avec une introduction, des notices, des notes par M.… (1946) 1 copy
Pascals Breve 1 copy
Les Provinviales ; Penseés 1 copy
Discours sur les passions de l'amour - avec des vers inédits - collection "Classiques" (1947) 1 copy
De l'esprit géométrique : Ecrits sur la Grâce et autres textes by Blaise Pascal (1993-03-05) (1656) 1 copy
Oeuvres completes 1 copy
Pascal. Pensées et opuscles 1 copy
Pensées. Notes on religion and other subjects. Edited with an introduction and notes by Louis Lafuma. Translated… (1961) 1 copy
Pascal. Les Provinciales : Ou les Lettres écrites par Louis de Montalte à un provincial de ses amis et aux RR. PP.… (1965) 1 copy
Le Coeur et ses raisons / Logik des Herzens. Zweisprachig. Auswahl, Übersetzung und Nachwort von Fritz Paepcke. (1963) 1 copy
Pensieri scelta 1 copy
Tankar 1 1 copy
Selected Thoughts of Blaise Pascal. Translated and edited by Gertrude Burford Rawlings (1900) 1 copy
PENSEES 2 1 copy
Associated Works
The Middle Ages to the 17th Century: Literature of the Western World (1961) — Contributor, some editions — 23 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Pascal, Blaise
- Other names
- Montalte, Louis de
- Birthdate
- 1623-06-19
- Date of death
- 1662-08-19
- Burial location
- Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, Paris, France
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- France
- Birthplace
- Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Place of death
- Paris, France
- Places of residence
- Clermont-Ferrand, France
Paris, France
Rouen, France
Port-Royal Abbey, Paris, France - Education
- at home
- Occupations
- mathematician
physicist
theologian
philosopher
inventor
scientist - Relationships
- Périer, Gilberte Pascal (sister)
Pascal, Jacqueline (sister) - Short biography
- Blaise Pascal was born in Clermont-Ferrand, France. His parents were Antoinette Bégon and Étienne Pascal, a local magistrate and presiding judge of the tax court there. He had two sisters, Gilberte and Jacqueline. Their mother died in 1626, when Blaise was three, and a few years later the family moved to Paris. Étienne Pascal, also a mathematician and natural philosopher who was proficient in Latin and Greek, devoted himself to the education of his children, who all showed exceptional abilities. Although often ill and in pain, Blaise proved to be talented in mathematics and science from a young age. In 1640, at age 16. he published an essay on conic sections, Essai pour les coniques, which won praise as an important contribution to the relatively new field of projective geometry. Between 1642 and 1644, Pascal conceived and constructed a calculating device, known as the Pascaline, the world's first mechanical calculator. In 1646, Etienne fell and fractured his leg and seriously injured his hip; he received medical treatment from two brothers who were disciples of Jean du Vergier de Hauranne, abbé de Saint-Cyran and director of the abbey of Port-Royal in Paris. The abbé Saint-Cyran had introduced an austere moral and theological creed known as Jansenism and the whole Pascal family converted. Pascal became devoutly religious and his sister Jacqueline eventually became a Jansenist nun. Over the next few years, Pascal tested the theories of Galileo and of Evangelista Torricelli. In a famous experiment in 1648, he had his brother-in-law take barometric readings at various altitudes on the Puy-de-Dôme, the highest mountain in the Auvergne, so he could test Torricelli's ideas on atmospheric pressure. During this time, Pascal invented the syringe and the hydraulic press. The years 1651–1654 were another period of intense scientific work for Pascal, during which he composed treatises on the equilibrium of liquid solutions, on the weight and density of air, and on the arithmetic triangle. Together with Pierre de Fermat, he created the calculus of probabilities. Pascal had a carriage accident in November 1654 in which he narrowly escaped death, and considered this a summons to begin a new life in seclusion from the world. He entered the abbey of Port-Royal and remained there until his death at age 39 in 1662. The two works for which he is chiefly remembered, Lettres Provinciales (1657) and the Pensées (1658), date from the years of his life at Port-Royal. Pascal's contributions to science have been honored in a variety of ways. In 1972, Nicklaus Wirth named his new computer language Pascal. The Pascal (symbol Pa) is the unit of pressure designated by the International System of Units.
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