Blaise Pascal :: essays research papers

Blaise papaBlaise pascal was born in Clermont France on June 19, 1623, and died in Paris onAug. 19, 1662. His sire, a local judge at Clermont, and also a earthly concern with ascientific reputation, moved the family to Paris in 1631, partly to presue hisget scientific studies, partly to carry on the education of his only son, whohad already displayed exceptional ability. Blaise was kept at home in order to construe his not being overworked, and it was directed that his education shouldbe at jump confined to the study of langu epochs, and should not include anymathematics. Young Pascal was very curious, one day at the date of twelve maculationstudying with his tutor, he asked about the study of geometry. After this hebegan to portion out up his play time to persue the study of geometry. After only a fewweeks he had mastered many properties of figures, in particular the advisethat the sum of the angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles. Hisfather noticed his sons abi lity in mathematics and gave him a copy of EuclidssElements, a book which Pascal read and soon mastered. At the young age offourteen he was admitted to the weekly meetings of Roberval, Mersenne, Mydorge,and other French geometricians. At the age of sixteen he wrote an essay on conicsections and in 1641 at the age of 18 he construced the first arithmeticalmachine, an instrument with admixture dials on the front on which the numbers wereentered. Once the entries had been completed the dissolving agent would be displayed insmall windows on the top of the device. This device was amend eight yearslater. His correspondence with Fermat about this time shows that he was consequentlythurning his attention to analytical geometry and physics. At this time herepeated Torricellis experiments, by which the pressure of the atmosphere couldbe estimated as a weight, and he affirm his theory of the cause ofbarometrical variations by obtaining at the same blink of an eye readings at differentalt itudes on the hill of Puy-de-Dme. A strange thing about Pascal was that in1650 he stoped all he reasearched and his darling studies to being the study ofreligion, or as he sais in his Pensees, " hypothecate the greatness and themisery of man." Also about this time he advance the younger of his twosisters to enther the Port Royal society. In 1653 after the finale of his fatherhe returned to his old studies again, and made several experiments on the