Blaise Pascal (French pronunciation: [blɛz paskal]; June 19, 1623 – August 19, 1662),
was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher.
He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a Tax Collector in Rouen.
Pascal's earliest work was in the natural and applied sciences where he made important contributions to the study of fluids, and clarified the concepts of pressure and vacuum by generalizing the work of Evangelista Torricelli.
Pascal also wrote in defense of the scientific method.
In 1642, while still a teenager, he started some pioneering work on calculating machines, and after three years of effort and 50 prototypes[1] he invented the mechanical calculator.[2][3]
Following Galileo and Torricelli, in 1646 he refuted Aristotle's followers who insisted that nature abhors a vacuum. His results caused many disputes before being accepted.
He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a Tax Collector in Rouen.
Pascal's earliest work was in the natural and applied sciences where he made important contributions to the study of fluids, and clarified the concepts of pressure and vacuum by generalizing the work of Evangelista Torricelli.
Pascal also wrote in defense of the scientific method.
In 1642, while still a teenager, he started some pioneering work on calculating machines, and after three years of effort and 50 prototypes[1] he invented the mechanical calculator.[2][3]
Following Galileo and Torricelli, in 1646 he refuted Aristotle's followers who insisted that nature abhors a vacuum. His results caused many disputes before being accepted.
