BLAISE PASCAL (1647)

Mathematician, physicist, religious philosopher and writer was the founder of the modern theory of probabilities.

His ideas on inner religion influenced Rousseau, Bergson and the Existentialists.

At the age of 17 Pascal published an essay on mathematics that was highly regarded in the academic community and praised by Descartes.

He invented the first digital calculator (1642-44) to assist his mathematician father in local administration.

Further studies in geometry, hydrodynamics and hydrostatic and atmospheric pressure led him to invent the syring and the hydraulic press and to discover Pascal´s law of pressure (1647-54).

He entered the convent of Port-Royal in 1654 where he wrote Les Provinciales, a defense of Jansenism against the Jesuits, and the Pensées.

Pascal spent his last years in scientific research and good works.