Blaise Pascal 17th Century

Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist and religious philosopher.   He was born on June 19th in 1623, Clermont-Ferrand, France.   Pascal died of a malignant stomach tumor at his sister Gilberte's home in Paris on August 19th, 1662.

In the 1640s he invented the Pascaline, which was an early calculator.  He also worked to further  Evangelista Torricelli's theory of the cause of barometric variation.  

Blaise Pascal laid the foundations for the modern "Theory of Probabilities".  His religious notes were published posthumously and were known as the "Pensees".

As a young boy he was home schooled by his father and he was forbidden to study Geometry.  His father forbade him this because he harbored a fear that Blaise would not put effort into his other studies and his languages.  Blaise Pascal being a Gemini and having a most curious mind had decided to embark on this by his own volition and quickly adapted his own language to his learning having not had classical teaching.  His father allowed him to study Euclid after this.

Pascal also published a work "Les Provinciales" defending his Jansenist faith within the confines of the Roman Church.

 

JANSENISM 

 

Jansenism was a Catholic theological movement, primarily in France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. 

The movement originated from the posthumously published work of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Jansen, who died in 1638. 

It was first popularized by Jansen's friend Abbot Jean Duvergier de Hauranne, of Saint-Cyran-en-Brenne Abbey, and after Duvergier's death in 1643, was led by Antoine Arnauld. 

Through the 17th and into the 18th centuries, Jansenism was a distinct movement within the Catholic Church. 

The theological centre of the movement was the convent of Port-Royal Abbey, Paris, which was a haven for writers including Duvergier, Arnauld, Pierre Nicole, Jean Racine and of course Blaise Pascal.

Nicklaus Wirth invented a computer language and named it Pascal in honor of Blaise Pascal and his form of first computer (Pascaline calculator).

He influenced modern thinkers like Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

Newton being a tyrannical figure who had great power and influence over the careers of young scientists and scholars with his position.  He was found to have been out done by one of his peers astronomer John Flamsteed who through the courts managed to stop Newtons heartless
  The weather term Pa is named after Pascal once again for his original efforts he put into