Blaise Pascal Biography

Pascal Hayward

Have you ever gotten a flu

shot before? If you answered no,
you’re probably lying. However, if
you said yes, you have Blaise Pascal
to thank!
Blaise Pascal was an
influential mathematician,
inventor, and physicist, although
he was mainly a mathematician.
He laid the foundations for probability as well as studies in pressure.
Blaise Pascal was born in Clermont-Ferrand, France in the 19th
of June 1623. His mother died when Pascal was three, and he, his two
sisters, and his father moved to France.
Pascal demonstrated his mathematical abilities at an extremely
young age. He was homeschooled without being taught math,
because his father thought the prospect was too alluring for young
Pascal. However, at a very young 16 years of age, he discovered and
presented a theorem known as the mystic hexagram, who scholars
assumed was not actually his own idea. “The boy started displaying
signs of brilliance at an early age and was regarded as a child prodigy”
(TheFamousPeople). With his father’s failing health, after a few years
Pascal turned to religion, and practiced Christianity for the rest of his
somewhat short life.
His accomplishments were many and impactful, for a person
who lived so short and had failing health for half their lives. Arguably
his most important contribution to mathematics was the
introduction of probability theory, which has completely changed the
face of mathematics and, possibly, the Earth. Interestingly, he laid
some foundations for the principles of pressure. “Pascal invented the
syringe and created the hydraulic press, an instrument based upon
the principle that became known as Pascal’s principle” (Encyclopaedia
Britannica: Blaise Pascal). Blaise Pascal also wrote multiple books
including Pensees, which examined the Christian faith. Another
mathematical breakthrough of Blaise Pascal was Pascal’s Triangle.
There are even inventions he created, including a calculator known as
the Pascaline, which used circular old-telephone style turntables and
could complete basic arithmetic, like addition and subtraction.
Blaise Pascal died on the 19th of August in 1662, making him 39
years old. Pascal was one of the more influential, yet lesser known,
mathematicians that lived during the Renaissance. He proved
himself to be precocious in multiple areas of mathematics and
science. He created the principles of pressure and probability, wrote
multiple religious and mathematical books, built his own calculators,
and even invented the syringe! Needless to say, Blaise Pascal was one
of those in the Renaissance that truly rocketed civilization towards
what it is.