Blaise Pascal
Picture from: Christian Education Resource Center
EARLY LIFE
Blaise Pascal was born June 19, 1623 in
Clermont-Ferrand, France. Blaise had 2 sisters and the three
were all raised by his father Etienne because his mother
Antoinette Begon died when he was only three years old.
After his mother's death Blaise's father moved the family to
Paris. Pascal and his sisters were educated by their father
when they all showed a lot of interest and potential in the
fields of math and science especially Blaise.
Pascal was very interested in
mathematics works by Girard Desargues regarding conic
sections. At age 16 he sent his first legitimate piece of
mathematics work to Desargues, the work related conic
sections and hexagons to from a line. Shortly after this
because of circumstance with a war at the time and the
French government the family lost most of their money and
Etienne would have to leave his children for some time. The
children lived with Madame Sainctot until their father
returned roughly two years later. Upon his return to Paris,
Etienne moved the children back in with him and got a job as
the King's Commisioner of Taxes. Blaise built his first
invention, the Pascaline, in order to help his father make
numerous calculations easier at his job.
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| An example of Pascal's device
the Pascaline Picture from: imgbuddy.com |