Pascal, Blaise

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Blaise Pascal Summary

Pascal, Blaise

French Philosopher and Scientist
1623–1662

Blaise Pascal, who was born in 1623 in central France and died in Paris in 1662, made significant contributions to physics, mathematics, and philosophy during his short life. At the time of Pascal's birth, European scientificthought was moving rapidly from deductive reasoning to the experimental method of testing to understand natural phenomena. The established order resisted this new approach. One of the more drastic examples of this resistance was the harsh treatment that Italian astronomer Galileo (1564–1642) suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church's Inquisition in 1633. The church also pressured intellectuals through economic means.

Blaise Pascal.

Since the sciences, mathematics, and philosophy had not become separate disciplines, it was common for intellectuals to work in several areas. Societies formed for the presentation and discussion of works in progress in these fields. Pascal's father, a lawyer by profession and a mathematician by avocation, was a member of one such group, the Académie Mersenne, which later grew into the French Academy. Some of the more distinguished Académie participants were Gilles Personier de Roberval (1602–1675), a teacher at the Collége de France; Girard Desargues (1591–1661), an architect; Pierre de Fermat (1601–1665), a lawyer; and René Descartes (1596–1650), a philosopher and mathematician. Through meetings and correspondence with other intellectuals throughout Europe, the members contributed to and learned about advances in mathematics and science. By age fourteen, Pascal had acquired mathematical knowledge and interest that were so advanced that his father introduced him to the Académie. This young man's active and inquiring mind both challenged, and was challenged by, members of the Académie.

Earlier indications of Pascal's intellectual ability were confirmed when he mastered Euclidean geometry at age twelve without formal instruction. At sixteen Pascal presented a paper to the Académie on the properties of conic sections, based in part on Desargues's treatise on conical sections. This work became known as Pascal's theorem, and it forms the basis for modern projective geometry. Another geometric accomplishment was "Pascal's triangle." In the 1650s, with Fermat as a collaborator, Pascal developed the triangle to calculate possible gambling winnings under various conditions. His triangle is viewed as the preliminary work leading to the binomial theorem, and the calculus of probabilities.

Various statistical methods grew out of the solution to the wagering problem. Descartes, Roberval, and Fermat also investigated the arcs that form in cycloids. Each found solutions to various aspects of the problem. Pascal succeeded in finding solutions to other aspects using methods similar to integral calculus. These methods were used by German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz (1646–1716) in his development of calculus. Although his first area of interest was pure mathematics, Pascal often turned his abilities to practical problems.

The most famous Pascal invention is the Pascaline, a mechanical calculating machine. He developed it as an accounting aid for his father, who was the tax collector in Normandy, France. From 1640 to 1642, Pascal built the first model. He continued to perfect the calculator for the next seven years. The calculating mechanism consisted of gears that moved a drum of printed numeric values. Open slots in the housing displayed these values. All calculations were performed through addition. Subtraction was done by adding the complement of the value to be subtracted to the other number. For example, 83 minus 25 adds 75, the complement of 25, to 83. The answer is 58, as there is no carrying of the last value. Multiplication and division wereperformed through a series of additions. Some 300 years later, the complement method is used by today's computers to perform mathematical functions. A few of Pascal's other practical undertakings included the improvement of the barometer and the syringe.

Pascal's major contribution to the physical sciences was a series of experiments to prove Torricelli's hypothesis about the effect of atmospheric pressure on the equilibrium of fluid. The conclusions that Pascal published stating that vacuums do exist in nature brought him into direct conflict with the traditional Aristotelian assertion that "Nature abhors a vacuum." Noël, the rector of a Jesuit college, attacked Pascal's conclusions by reasserting traditional doctrine. However, Pascal's carefully constructed experiments, which took into account all possible factors that could affect the outcome, and his analysis of the results, proved conclusively that a vacuum does occur naturally. A further result of his experiments was the principle that fluids exert pressure equally in all directions. One form of pressure measurement is known as a Pascal. This work had a direct impact on the development of modern scientific experimental methods.

In later years Pascal concentrated on philosophical and religious questions. His writings, The Pensés and The Provincial Letters, are still studied by theology and philosophy students.

Bertha Kugelman Morimoto