(1623-1662) French mathematician and philosopher; invented an adding machine; contributed (with Fermat) to the theory of probability.
French philosopher and mathematician. He contributed to the development of hydraulics, the calculus, and the mathematical theory of probability.
In mathematics, Pascal is known for his work on conic sections and, with Pierre de Fermat, on the probability theory. In physics, Pascal’s chief work concerned fluid pressure and hydraulics. Pascal’s principle states that the pressure everywhere in a fluid is the same, so that pressure applied at one point is transmitted equally to all parts of the container. This is the principle of the hydraulic press and jack.
Pascal’s triangle is a triangular array of numbers in which each number is the sum of the pair of numbers above it. In general the nth (n = 0, 1, 2.) row of the triangle gives the binomial coefficients nCr, with r = 0, 1., n .
His Pensées 1670 was part of an unfinished defense of the Christian religion.
Pascal was born in Clermont-Ferrand. In Paris in his teens he met mathematicians Descartes and Fermat. From 1654 Pascal was closely involved with the Jansenist monastery of Port Royal. He defended a prominent Jansenist, Antoine Arnauld (1612–1694), against the Jesuits in his Lettres provinciales/Provincial Letters 1656. His last project was to design a public transport system for Paris, which was inaugurated 1662.
Between 1642 and 1645, Pascal constructed a machine to carry out the processes of addition and subtraction, and then organized the manufacture and sale of these first calculating machines. (At least seven of these “computers” still exist. One was presented to Queen Christina of Sweden in 1652.)
Pascal's work in hydrostatics involved repeating the experiment by Italian physicist Evangelista Torricelli to prove that air pressure supports a column of mercury. This led rapidly to investigations of the use of the mercury barometer in weather forecasting.

Si unit (symbol Pa) of pressure, equal to one newton per square meter. It replaces bars and millibars (105 Pa equals one bar). It is named for the French mathematician Blaise Pascal.
(French acronym for program appliqué ŕ la selection et la compilation automatique de la littérature) a high-level computer-programming language. Designed by Niklaus Wirth (1934– ) in the 1960s as an aid to teaching programming, it is still widely used as such in universities, but is also recognized as a good general-purpose programming language. It was named for 17th-century French mathematician Blaise Pascal.
A unit of pressure equal to one newton per square meter; SYN. Pa.

A concise procedural language designed between 1967 and 1971 by Niklaus Wirth. Pascal, a compiled, structured language built upon ALGOL, simplifies syntax while adding data types and structures such as subranges, enumerated data types, files, records, and sets. See also ALGOL, compiled language. Compare C.
A programing language designed to teach programming through a top-down modular approach.
High-level computer-programming language.