The Inventor
Blaise Pascal
Known as a scientist. Blaise Pascal is an expert in mathematics and physics. His main interests are Philosophy and Theology. Blaise Pascal, from France, is famous for his Law. He also discovered the theory of probability along with Pierre de Fermat.
Blaise Pascal was born in Clermont Ferrand on June 19, 1623. His father Etienne Pascal, a royal adviser, was later appointed president of the Court of Aids in the city of Clermont.
CHILDHOOD
His mother Antoniette died when he was 3 years old, leaving him and his two sisters, Gilberte and Jacqueline. In 1631 the family moved to Paris. Since the age of 12, he has been invited by his father to attend math discussion societies.
His father taught him linguistics, especially Latin and Greek, but not mathematics. His father deliberately skipped math lessons to Pascal solely to provoke the curiosity of the child.
PASCALINE FIRST CALCULATOR
When he was 12 years old, Blaise Pascal often helped his father work who at that time worked as a tax collector. Blaise Pascal then made a calculating machine or calculator which he later named Pascaline.
Blaise Pascal's Pascaline helped his father make his father's tax calculation easier. The machine was then the subject of discussion and Blaise Pascal received much praise.
I STARTED TO GET INTERESTED IN MATHEMATICS
Pascal then used to experiment with geometric shapes, and found standard geometric formulas and gave the formula its own name.
In Blaise Pascal's biography it is known that in 1640 Pascal's family moved to the city of Rouen. At that time, he was still taught directly by his father, but Pascal studied very hard even to drain his own stamina and health.
DISCOVER THE GEOMETRY THEOREM
His efforts were not in vain, finally he managed to find the amazing theorem of Geometry. Sometimes he called the theorem “hexagram magik” a theorem about the equations of crossing between lines.
Not a theorem that simply calculates the balance of forms, but, more fundamental and important, which at that time had never been developed into a branch of mathematics in itself – projection geometry.
Pascal then worked on it as a book, Essay on Conics, which he completed until 1640, in which the miraculous hexagram became the main subject, which discusses hundreds of calculations about cones, also discussing Apollonius' theorem, which is amazing not only because of his age is still very young at that time (16 years) but because the calculation also includes elements of tangens, etc.
In 1646 Pascal's father was in an accident and was treated at home. Some of the neighbors visited coincidentally some were Jansenists, founded by Cornelis Jansen, a Dutch-born professor who teaches theology at the University of Louvain.
A belief that contradicts the teachings of the Jesuits. Pascal seemed to be influenced and became a follower of the Jansenists, and made him strongly opposed to the teachings of the Jesuits. Her sister Jacqueline also intends to enter the Jansenist monastery in Port Royal.
Pascal's father, Etienne Pascal, did not like this, then took the family to move to Paris, but after his father died in 1651, Jacqueline joined the monastery of Port Royal.
JANSENISM
Pascal was still busy enjoying his earthly life with his friends from among the nobles spending his father's inheritance money. Finally in 1614, he became fully a Jansenist, and he began his osteric life in the monastery of Port Royal.
They seemed to be polemical between two friends, starting from January 13, 1656, to March 24, 1657. Media the Provincial Letters engulfed thousands and circulated throughout Paris, the Jesuits tried to provoke who exactly the author with ingenuity even mocking those who tried to uncover his identity.
News of Pascal's personal life has not been heard much since he entered life in Port Royal. His sister Gilberte saw him living an ascetic life.
THE DEATH OF BLAISE PASCAL
Pascal, in addition to not too like to see his sister busy with his children, also hates his speaker who only about women's affairs. Starting in 1658 the anguish of his headache intensified, finally dying on August 19, 1662.
When Pascal died leaving an unfinished paper on theology, the Pensees, an apology of Christianity, so , it was only published 8 years later by the monastery of Port Royal in an incomplete and obscure form.
A more authentic version was first published in 1844. It deals with the great problem of Christian thought, of belief contrary to Cause, Free Will, and Knowledge.
In Blaise Pascal's Biography, it is known that he explained the contradictions and moral problems of life, the doctrine of the Fall (the expulsion from heaven) which became the basis of belief and became the basis of justification of the doctrine of Redemption.
The Pensees, in contrast to Provincial Letters, written directly by the author, with a writing style, which of course does not fit, with his greatness as a famous writer.
The Letters, however, have put Pascal into the history of literature alongside the great French writers. The Pensees felt as if it was written by someone else, who seemed less concerned about religion. However, despite the differences between the two, each remains an important book in the history of religious thought.
Pascal also wrote about hydrostatics, which explained his experience using a barometer to explain his theory of the Liquid Matter Equation (Equilibrium of Fluids), which was not published until one year after his death.
PASCAL'S LAW
His paper on the Liquid Matter Equation prompted Simion Stevin to conduct an analysis of the hydrostatic paradox and and to set straight on what is referred to as the last law of hydrostatics: the: that liquid objects transmit compressive power equally in all directions (later known as Pascal's Law).
Pascal's Law is considered important because of the interrelationship between the Theory of Liquid Objects and the Theory of Gas Objects, and about the Changes of Forms about the two which became known as the Hydrodynamic Theory.
Pascal's theory influenced mathematical theory when Pascal began life in Port Royal, which was used to overcome the problems of calculation related to curves and circles, which must also be mastered by modern mathematicians.
He published many theorems presented as a challenge to other mathematicians to solve, without one answering them. Later answers came from John Wallis, Christopher Wren, Christian Huygens, and friends, with no satisfactory results.
Pascal eventually published his own answer using the pseudonym Amos DettonviIle (later known as Louis de Montalte anagram), then mathematicians now often also call themselves by this name.
PROBABILITY THEORY
The mathematical theory of probability first developed when there was a communication between Pascal and Pierre de Fermat who finally found that both Pascal's theory and Mathematical Probability had something in common even though each remained independent.
Pascal planned to write a paper on it, but again only the pieces he left behind, were published after his death. He never wrote a long, convoluted mathematical theory, but short, clear, and lasting writings.
