When1: 1642
When2: 1670
Who: Blaise Pascal [Pascal, Blaise]
What: mathematician/philosopher/inventor
Where: France
works\ Thoughts [1670]; Provincial Letters; calculating machine [1642]
Detail: He lived 1623 to 1662, was Cartesian and Jansenist, and invented first metal-tooth wheeled calculating machine [1642]. He invented hydraulic press to multiply force, syringe, Pascal's principle, Pascal's theorem, Pascal's triangle, mathematical induction, fundamental enumeration principle, binomial theorem, large-numbers law, and conditional-probability law.
At mechanical equilibrium, with only gravity acting, liquid has hydrostatic pressure {Pascal's law}.
Epistemology
People can neither reject reasoning nor say there is only reasoning. Reason cannot deal with ultimate metaphysical problems. Faith is necessary complement to reason. Expected value of believing in God is more than value of non-belief {Pascal's wager}.
Metaphysics
God exists because man is helpless without God.
Mathematical Sciences>Mathematics>History>Invention
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Date Modified: 2022.0224