PHILOSOPHERS - BLAISE PASCAL

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>BLAISE PASCAL</FONT><BR> (1623-1662)</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <BLOCKQUOTE>"The eternal Being, once He exists, exists forever."<P> ("The Wager" 446)</BLOCKQUOTE> Pascal was born in Clermont, but his father, a lawyer and keen amateur mathematician, moved the family to Paris when Pascal was seven. His mother had died three years earlier. For much of his life he suffered from acute dyspepsia, chronic insomnia and depression but his delicate constitution was compensated for by outstanding intellect. From an early age he shared his father's passion for mathematics. At age fourteen he attended meetings of the Paris mathematical circle and at sixteen produced a paper outlining the theorem of the mystic hexagram that still bears his name. His treatise on what is still known as Pascal's triangle includes the first clear exposition of mathematical induction. Correspondence with Fermat resulted in the theory of probability. Pascal could turn his hand to the practical as well as the theoretical. He conceived and built a working model of a calculating machine to help his father in his task of reorganising the collection of local taxes and conducted experiments on atmospheric pressure.<P> Unfortunately, an excess of religious fervour directed his activities in less fruitful directions. Conversion of the family to the austere creed of Jansenism inspired him to attack the Jesuits. After a conversion experience when he narrowly escaped death as the horses of his carriage plunged off a bridge, he retired to Port Royal to contemplate "the greatness and misery of man". The result was a collection of <I>Pensées</I>, notes for a theological treatise he never wrote.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>"We know that there is an infinite, and do not know its nature. As we know it to be true that numbers are finite, it is therefore true that there is a numerical infinity. But we do not know its nature; it cannot be even or odd (this is certainly true of every finite number). So, we may well know that there is a God without knowing what He is."<P> ("The Wager" 451)</BLOCKQUOTE> <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>