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Known For
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Deriving Pascal's law, which states that pressure exerted upon a liquid is transmitted equally in all directions
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Proving experimentally that the height of the mercury column in a barometer depends on the surrounding air pressure
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Formulating the mathematical theory of probability with French mathematician Pierre de Fermat
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Inventing the first mechanical adding machine
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Career
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1639 Published, at the age of sixteen, Essai pour les coniques (Essay on Conics), a mathematical work describing one of the basic theorems of projective geometry
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1642 Invented a mechanical calculator to assist his father, a tax commissioner
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1648 Arranged for a barometer to be carried up a mountain, to demonstrate that the level of mercury is dependent upon the surrounding air pressure
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1654 Proved what is known as Pascal's law, which states that pressure exerted upon a liquid is transmitted equally in all directions
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1654 Traded most of his mathematical pursuits for theological ones as a result of a religious epiphany
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1656-1657 Defended Jansenism, a movement of religious reform in the Roman Catholic church, from Jesuit criticism in Lettres Provinciales |
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Did You Know
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Pascal invented the syringe and the hydraulic press.
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Pascal devoted his last years to Jansenism, a religious movement that emphasized predestination, denied free will, and maintained that human nature is incapable of good. He lived in a Jansenist community and actively defended the movement.
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