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| | <br><br>It is very common to have a dental emergency -- a fractured tooth, an abscess, or severe pain when chewing. Over-the-counter pain medication is just masking the problem. Seeing an emergency dentist is critical to getting the source of the problem diagnosed and corrected as soon as possible.<br><br>Here are some common dental emergencies:<br>Toothache: The most common dental emergency. This generally means a badly decayed tooth. As the pain affects the tooth's nerve, treatment involves gently removing any debris lodged in the cavity being careful not to poke deep as this will cause severe pain if the nerve is touched. Next rinse vigorously with warm water. Then soak a small piece of cotton in oil of cloves and insert it in the cavity. This will give temporary relief until a dentist can be reached.<br><br>At times the pain may have a more obscure location such as decay under an old filling. As this can be only corrected by a dentist there are two things you can do to help the pain. Administer a pain pill (aspirin or some other analgesic) internally or dissolve a tablet in a half glass (4 oz) of warm water holding it in the mouth for several minutes before spitting it out. DO NOT PLACE A WHOLE TABLET OR ANY PART OF IT IN THE TOOTH OR AGAINST THE SOFT GUM TISSUE AS IT WILL RESULT IN A NASTY BURN.<br><br>Swollen Jaw: This may be caused by several conditions the most probable being an abscessed tooth. In any case the treatment should be to reduce pain and swelling. An ice pack held on the outside of the jaw, (ten minutes on and ten minutes off) will take care of both. If this does not control the pain, an analgesic tablet can be given every four hours.<br><br>Other Oral Injuries: Broken teeth, cut lips, bitten tongue or lips if severe means a trip to a dentist as soon as possible. In the mean time rinse the mouth with warm water and place cold compression the face opposite the injury. If there is a lot of bleeding, apply direct pressure to the bleeding area. If bleeding does not stop get patient to the emergency room of a hospital as stitches may be necessary.<br><br>Prolonged Bleeding Following Extraction: Place a gauze pad or better still a moistened tea bag over the socket and have the patient bite down gently on it for 30 to 45 minutes. The tannic acid in the tea seeps into the tissues and often helps stop the bleeding. If bleeding continues after two hours, call the dentist or take patient to the emergency room of the nearest hospital.<br><br>Broken Jaw: If you suspect the patient's jaw is broken, bring the upper and lower teeth together. Put a necktie, handkerchief or towel under the chin, tying it over the head to immobilize the jaw until you can get the patient to a dentist or the emergency room of a hospital.<br><br>Painful Erupting Tooth: In young children teething pain can come from a loose baby tooth or from an erupting permanent tooth. Some relief can be given by crushing a little ice and wrapping it in gauze or a clean piece of cloth and putting it directly on the tooth or gum tissue where it hurts. The numbing effect of the cold, along with an appropriate dose of aspirin, usually provides temporary relief.<br><br>In young adults, an erupting 3rd molar (Wisdom tooth), especially if it is impacted, can cause the jaw to swell and be quite painful. Often the gum around the tooth will show signs of infection. Temporary relief can be had by giving aspirin or some other painkiller and by dissolving an aspirin in half a glass of warm water and holding this solution in the mouth over the sore gum. AGAIN DO NOT PLACE A TABLET DIRECTLY OVER THE GUM OR CHEEK OR USE THE ASPIRIN SOLUTION ANY STRONGER THAN RECOMMENDED TO PREVENT BURNING THE TISSUE. The swelling of the jaw can be reduced by using an ice pack on the outside of the face at intervals of ten minutes on and ten minutes off.<br><br>If you cherished this short article and you would like to acquire extra facts relating to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90z1mmiwNS8 Washington DC Dentist] kindly go to the web page. |
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| {{Infobox philosopher
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| | region = [[Western philosophy]]
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| | era = [[17th-century philosophy]]
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| | image = Blaise pascal.jpg
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| | image_size = 220px
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| | name = Blaise Pascal
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| | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1623|6|19}}
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| | birth_place = [[Clermont-Ferrand]],<br />[[Auvergne (region)|Auvergne]], [[Early modern France|France]]
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| | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1662|8|19|1623|6|19}}
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| | death_place = Paris, France
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| | residence = France
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| | nationality = French
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| | school_tradition = {{vunblist |[[Jansenism]] |Proto-[[existentialism]]}}
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| | main_interests = {{hlist |Theology |Mathematics |Philosophy |[[Physics]]}}
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| | influences = {{hlist |[[St. Augustine of Hippo]] |[[Michel de Montaigne]] |[[René Descartes]] |[[Cornelius Jansen]] |[[Epictetus]]}}
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| | influenced = {{hlist |[[Antoine Arnauld]] |[[Pierre Duhem]] |[[William James]] |[[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|G. W. Leibniz]] |[[Léon Brunschvicg]] |[[Alexis de Tocqueville]] |[[Henri Bergson]]}}
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| | notable_ideas = {{vunblist |[[Pascal's Wager]] |[[Pascal's triangle]] |[[Pascal's law]] |[[Pascal's theorem]]}}
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| | religion = [[Roman Catholic]]
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| }}
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| ''' Blaise Pascal''' ({{IPA-fr|blɛz paskal|lang}}; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, [[physicist]], inventor, writer and [[Christian philosophy|Christian philosopher]]. He was a [[child prodigy]] who was educated by his father, a tax collector in [[Rouen]]. Pascal's earliest work was in the natural and applied sciences where he made important contributions to the study of [[fluid]]s, and clarified the concepts of [[pressure]] and [[vacuum]] by generalizing the work of [[Evangelista Torricelli]]. Pascal also wrote in defense of the [[scientific method]].
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| In 1642, while still a teenager, he started some pioneering work on calculating machines. After three years of effort and fifty prototypes,<ref>[http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/La_Machine_d%E2%80%99arithm%C3%A9tique (fr) La Machine d’arithmétique, Blaise Pascal], Wikisource</ref> he invented the [[mechanical calculator]].<ref>{{cite book |language=fr|title=Histoire des instruments et machines à calculer, trois siècles de mécanique pensante 1642–1942|first=Jean|last=Marguin|year=1994|publisher=Hermann|isbn=978-2-7056-6166-3|page=48}}
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| </ref><ref>{{cite book |language=fr|title=Le calcul simplifié|first=Maurice|last=d'Ocagne|year=1893|publisher=Gauthier-Villars et fils|page=245|url=http://cnum.cnam.fr/CGI/fpage.cgi?8KU54-2.5/248/150/369/363/369}}</ref> He built 20 of these machines (called [[Pascal's calculator]]s and later Pascalines) in the following ten years.<ref>{{cite book |language=fr|title=Les machines arithmétiques de Blaise Pascal|first=Guy|last=Mourlevat|year=1988|publisher=La Française d'Edition et d'Imprimerie|location=Clermont-Ferrand|page=12}}</ref> Pascal was an important mathematician, helping create two major new areas of research: he wrote a significant treatise on the subject of [[projective geometry]] at the age of 16, and later corresponded with [[Pierre de Fermat]] on [[probability theory]], strongly influencing the development of modern economics and [[social sciences|social science]]. Following [[Galileo]] and Torricelli, in 1646 he refuted [[Aristotle]]'s followers who insisted that [[Horror vacui (physics)|nature abhors a vacuum]]. Pascal's results caused many disputes before being accepted.
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| In 1646, he and his sister Jacqueline identified with the religious movement within [[Catholicism]] known by its detractors as [[Jansenism]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11511a.htm |title=Blaise Pascal |accessdate=23 February 2009 |work=Catholic Encyclopedia}}</ref> His father died in 1651. Following a religious experience in late 1654, he began writing influential works on philosophy and theology. His two most famous works date from this period: the ''[[Lettres provinciales]]'' and the ''[[Pensées]]'', the former set in the conflict between Jansenists and [[Jesuits]]. In that year, he also wrote an important treatise on the arithmetical triangle. Between 1658 and 1659 he wrote on the [[cycloid]] and its use in calculating the volume of solids. | |
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| Pascal had poor health, especially after his 18th year, and his death came just two months after his 39th birthday.<ref>Hald, Anders ''A History of Probability and Statistics and Its Applications before 1750'', (Wiley Publications, 1990) pp.44</ref>
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| ==Early life and education==
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| Pascal was born in [[Clermont-Ferrand]]; he lost his mother, Antoinette Begon, at the age of three.<ref>Devlin, Keith, ''The Unfinished Game: Pascal, Fermat, and the Seventeenth-Century Letter that Made the World Modern'', Basic Books; 1 edition (2008), ISBN 978-0-465-00910-7, p. 20.</ref> His father, [[Étienne Pascal]] (1588–1651), who also had an interest in science and mathematics, was a local judge and member of the "[[Nobles of the Robe|Noblesse de Robe]]". Pascal had two sisters, the younger [[Jacqueline Pascal|Jacqueline]] and the elder Gilberte.
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| In 1631, five years after the death of his wife,<ref>{{cite web |last1=O'Connor |first1=J.J. |last2=Robertson |first2=E.F. |authorlink1=John J. O'Connor (mathematician) |authorlink2=Edmund F. Robertson |title=Étienne Pascal |url=http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Pascal_Etienne.html |date=August 2006 |publisher=[[University of St Andrews|University of St. Andrews, Scotland]] |accessdate=5 February 2010}}</ref> Étienne Pascal moved with his children to Paris. The newly arrived family soon hired Louise Delfault, a maid who eventually became an instrumental member of the family. Étienne, who never remarried, decided that he alone would educate his children, for they all showed extraordinary intellectual ability, particularly his son Blaise. The young Pascal showed an amazing aptitude for mathematics and science.
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| Particularly of interest to Pascal was a work of [[Gérard Desargues|Desargues]] on [[conic section]]s. Following Desargues' thinking, the 16-year-old Pascal produced, as a means of proof, a short treatise on what was called the "Mystic Hexagram", ''Essai pour les coniques'' ("Essay on Conics") and sent it—his first serious work of mathematics—to [[Marin Mersenne|Père Mersenne]] in Paris; it is known still today as [[Pascal's theorem]]. It states that if a hexagon is inscribed in a circle (or conic) then the three intersection points of opposite sides lie on a line (called the Pascal line).
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| Pascal's work was so precocious that Descartes was convinced that Pascal's father had written it. When assured by Mersenne that it was, indeed, the product of the son not the father, Descartes dismissed it with a sniff: "I do not find it strange that he has offered demonstrations about conics more appropriate than those of the ancients," adding, "but other matters related to this subject can be proposed that would scarcely occur to a 16-year-old child."<ref>''[[The Story of Civilization]]: Volume 8, "The Age of Louis XIV"'' by [[Will Durant|Will & Ariel Durant]]; chapter II, subsection 4.1 p.56)</ref>
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| In France at that time offices and positions could be—and were—bought and sold. In 1631 Étienne sold his position as second president of the ''[[Cour des Aides]]'' for 65,665 [[livres]].<ref>Connor, James A., ''Pascal's wager: the man who played dice with God'' (HarperCollins, NY, 2006) ISBN 0-06-076691-3 p. 42</ref> The money was invested in a [[government bond]] which provided if not a lavish then certainly a comfortable income which allowed the Pascal family to move to, and enjoy, Paris. But in 1638 Richelieu, desperate for money to carry on the [[Thirty Years' War]], defaulted on the government's bonds. Suddenly Étienne Pascal's worth had dropped from nearly 66,000 livres to less than 7,300.
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| [[File:Arts et Metiers Pascaline dsc03869.jpg|left|thumb|An early [[Pascal's calculator|Pascaline]] on display at the [[Musée des Arts et Métiers]], Paris]]
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| Like so many others, Étienne was eventually forced to flee Paris because of his opposition to the fiscal policies of [[Cardinal Richelieu]], leaving his three children in the care of his neighbor Madame Sainctot, a great beauty with an infamous past who kept one of the most glittering and intellectual salons in all France. It was only when Jacqueline performed well in a children's play with Richelieu in attendance that Étienne was pardoned. In time Étienne was back in good graces with the cardinal, and in 1639 had been appointed the king's commissioner of taxes in the city of [[Rouen]] — a city whose tax records, thanks to uprisings, were in utter chaos.
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| In 1642, in an effort to ease his father's endless, exhausting calculations, and recalculations, of taxes owed and paid, Pascal, not yet 19, constructed a mechanical calculator capable of addition and subtraction, called [[Pascal's calculator]] or the Pascaline. The [[Musée des Arts et Métiers]] in Paris and the [[Zwinger|Zwinger museum]] in [[Dresden]], Germany, exhibit two of his original mechanical calculators. Though these machines are early forerunners to [[computer engineering]], the calculator failed to be a great commercial success. Because it was extraordinarily expensive the [[Pascaline]] became little more than a toy, and [[status symbol]], for the very rich both in France and throughout Europe. However, Pascal continued to make improvements to his design through the next decade and built 20 machines in total.
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| ==Contributions to mathematics==
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| [[File:PascalTriangleAnimated2.gif|thumb|[[Pascal's triangle]]. Each number is the sum of the two directly above it. The triangle demonstrates many mathematical properties in addition to showing [[binomial coefficients]].]]
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| Pascal continued to influence mathematics throughout his life. His ''Traité du triangle arithmétique'' ("Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle") of 1653 described a convenient tabular presentation for [[binomial coefficient]]s, now called [[Pascal's triangle]]. The triangle can also be represented:
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| {| class="wikitable"
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| ! style="width:20px;" |
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| ! style="width:20px;"|0
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| ! style="width:20px;"|1
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| ! style="width:20px;"|2
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| ! style="width:20px;"|3
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| ! style="width:20px;"|4
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| ! style="width:20px;"|5
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| ! style="width:20px;"|6
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| | '''0''' || 1|| 1|| 1|| 1||1||1||1
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| |'''1''' || 1 ||2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 ||
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| | '''2''' ||1|| 3 || 6 || 10 || 15 || ||
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| | '''3''' || 1||4 || 10 || 20 || || ||
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| | '''4''' || 1||5 || 15 || || || ||
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| | '''5''' || 1||6 || || || || ||
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| | '''6''' || 1 || || || || || ||
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| |}He defines the numbers in the triangle by [[recursion]]: Call the number in the (''m'' + 1)th row and (''n'' + 1)th column ''t''<sub>''mn''</sub>. Then ''t''<sub>''mn''</sub> = ''t''<sub>''m''–1,''n''</sub> + ''t''<sub>''m'',''n''–1</sub>, for ''m'' = 0, 1, 2, ... and ''n'' = 0, 1, 2, ... The boundary conditions are ''t''<sub>''m'',−1</sub> = 0, ''t''<sub>−1,''n''</sub> = 0 for ''m'' = 1, 2, 3, ... and ''n'' = 1, 2, 3, ... The generator ''t''<sub>00</sub> = 1. Pascal concludes with the proof,
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| :<math>t_{mn} = \frac{(m+n)(m+n-1)\cdots(m+1)}{n(n-1)\cdots 1}.\ </math>
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| In 1654, prompted by a friend interested in gambling problems, he corresponded with [[Fermat]] on the subject, and from that collaboration was born the mathematical theory of [[probability|probabilities]]. The friend was the [[Chevalier de Méré]], and the specific problem was that of two players who want to finish a game early and, given the current circumstances of the game, want to [[division of the stakes|divide the stakes fairly]], based on the chance each has of winning the game from that point. From this discussion, the notion of [[expected value]] was introduced. Pascal later (in the ''Pensées'') used a probabilistic argument, [[Pascal's Wager]], to justify belief in God and a virtuous life. The work done by Fermat and Pascal into the calculus of probabilities laid important groundwork for [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|Leibniz]]' formulation of the [[infinitesimal calculus]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.math.rutgers.edu/courses/436/Honors02/leibniz.html |title=The Mathematical Leibniz |publisher=Math.rutgers.edu |accessdate=16 August 2009}}</ref>
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| After a religious experience in 1654, Pascal mostly gave up work in mathematics.
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| ===Philosophy of mathematics===
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| Pascal's major contribution to the [[philosophy of mathematics]] came with his ''De l'Esprit géométrique'' ("Of the Geometrical Spirit"), originally written as a preface to a geometry textbook for one of the famous "''[[Petites écoles de Port-Royal|Petites-Ecoles de Port-Royal]]" ("Little Schools of Port-Royal")''. The work was unpublished until over a century after his death. Here, Pascal looked into the issue of discovering truths, arguing that the ideal of such a method would be to found all propositions on already established truths. At the same time, however, he claimed this was impossible because such established truths would require other truths to back them up—first principles, therefore, cannot be reached. Based on this, Pascal argued that the procedure used in geometry was as perfect as possible, with certain principles assumed and other propositions developed from them. Nevertheless, there was no way to know the assumed principles to be true.
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| Pascal also used ''De l'Esprit géométrique'' to develop a theory of [[definition]]. He distinguished between definitions which are conventional labels defined by the writer and definitions which are within the language and understood by everyone because they naturally designate their referent. The second type would be characteristic of the philosophy of [[essentialism]]. Pascal claimed that only definitions of the first type were important to science and mathematics, arguing that those fields should adopt the philosophy of [[Formalism (philosophy)|formalism]] as formulated by Descartes.
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| In ''De l'Art de persuader'' ("On the Art of Persuasion"), Pascal looked deeper into geometry's [[axiomatic method]], specifically the question of how people come to be convinced of the [[axioms]] upon which later conclusions are based. Pascal agreed with [[Montaigne]] that achieving certainty in these axioms and conclusions through human methods is impossible. He asserted that these principles can be grasped only through intuition, and that this fact underscored the necessity for submission to God in searching out truths.
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| ==Contributions to the physical sciences==
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| [[File:Blaise Pascal 2.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait of Pascal]]
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| [[File:Pascal's Barrel.png|thumb|right|An illustration of the (apocryphal) [[Pascal's barrel]] experiment]]
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| Pascal's work in the fields of the study of [[hydrodynamics]] and [[hydrostatics]] centered on the principles of [[hydraulic fluid]]s. His inventions include the [[hydraulic press]] (using hydraulic pressure to multiply force) and the [[syringe]]. He proved that hydrostatic pressure depends not on the weight of the fluid but on the elevation difference. He demonstrated this principle by attaching a thin tube to a barrel full of water and filling the tube with water up to the level of the third floor of a building. This caused the barrel to leak, in what became known as [[Pascal's barrel]] experiment.
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| By 1646, Pascal had learned of [[Evangelista Torricelli]]'s experimentation with [[barometer]]s. Having replicated an experiment that involved placing a tube filled with mercury upside down in a bowl of mercury, Pascal questioned what force kept some mercury in the tube and what filled the space above the mercury in the tube. At the time, most scientists contended that, rather than a [[vacuum]], some invisible matter was present. This was based on the Aristotelian notion that creation was a thing of substance, whether visible or invisible; and that this substance was forever in motion. Furthermore, "Everything that is in motion must be moved by something," [[Aristotle]] declared.<ref>Aristotle, ''Physics'', VII, 1.</ref> Therefore, to the Aristotelian trained scientists of Pascal's time, a vacuum was an impossibility. How so? As proof it was pointed out:
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| * Light passed through the so-called "vacuum" in the glass tube.
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| * Aristotle wrote how everything moved, and must be moved by something.
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| * Therefore, since there had to be an invisible "something" to move the light through the glass tube, there was no vacuum in the tube. Not in the glass tube or anywhere else. Vacuums – the absence of any and everything – were simply an impossibility.
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| Following more experimentation in this vein, in 1647 Pascal produced ''Experiences nouvelles touchant le vide'' ("New Experiments with the Vacuum"), which detailed basic rules describing to what degree various liquids could be supported by air pressure. It also provided reasons why it was indeed a vacuum above the column of liquid in a barometer tube.
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| On 19 September 1648, after many months of Pascal's friendly but insistent prodding, [[Florin Périer]], husband of Pascal's elder sister Gilberte, was finally able to carry out the fact-finding mission vital to Pascal's theory. The account, written by Périer, reads:
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| <blockquote>
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| "The weather was chancy last Saturday...[but] around five o'clock that morning...the [[Puy-de-Dôme]] was visible...so I decided to give it a try. Several important people of the city of [[Clermont-Ferrand|Clermont]] had asked me to let them know when I would make the ascent...I was delighted to have them with me in this great work...
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| "...at eight o'clock we met in the gardens of the Minim Fathers, which has the lowest elevation in town....First I poured 16 pounds of [[Mercury (element)|quicksilver]]...into a vessel...then took several glass tubes...each four feet long and [[Hermetic seal|hermetically sealed]] at one end and opened at the other...then placed them in the vessel [of quicksilver]...I found the quick silver stood at 26" and 3½ lines above the quicksilver in the vessel...I repeated the experiment two more times while standing in the same spot...[they] produced the same result each time...
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| "I attached one of the tubes to the vessel and marked the height of the quicksilver and...asked Father Chastin, one of the Minim Brothers...to watch if any changes should occur through the day...Taking the other tube and a portion of the quick silver...I walked to the top of [[Puy-de-Dôme]], about 500 [[fathoms]] higher than the monastery, where upon experiment...found that the quicksilver reached a height of only 23" and 2 lines...I repeated the experiment five times with care...each at different points on the summit...found the same height of quicksilver...in each case..."<ref>Périer to Pascal, 22 September 1648, Pascal, Blaise. ''Oeuvres complètes''. (Paris: Seuil, 1960), 2:682.</ref>
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| </blockquote>
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| Pascal replicated the experiment in Paris by carrying a barometer up to the top of the bell tower at the church of [[Saint-Jacques Tower|Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie]], a height of about fifty meters. The mercury dropped two lines.
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| In the face of criticism that some invisible matter must exist in Pascal's empty space, Pascal, in his reply to [[Estienne Noel]],<!-- WAIT--WAIT! Before you remove the brackets, consider writing a new article! --> gave one of the 17th century's major statements on the scientific method, which is a striking anticipation of the idea popularised by [[Karl Popper]] that scientific theories are characterised by their [[falsifiability]]: "In order to show that a hypothesis is evident, it does not suffice that all the phenomena follow from it; instead, if it leads to something contrary to a single one of the phenomena, that suffices to establish its falsity."<ref>''Pour faire qu'une hypothèse soit évidente, il ne suffit pas que tous les phénomènes s'en ensuivent, au lieu que, s'il s'ensuit quelque chose de contraire à un seul des phénomènes, cela suffit pour assurer de sa fausseté'', in ''Les Lettres de Blaise Pascal: Accompagnées de Lettres de ses Correspondants Publiées'', ed. Maurice Beaufreton, 6th edition (Paris: G. Crès, 1922), 25–26, available at http://gallica.bnf.fr and translated in Saul Fisher, ''Pierre Gassendi's Philosophy and Science: Atomism for Empiricists'' Brill's Studies in Intellectual History 131 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2005), 126 n.7</ref> His insistence on the existence of the vacuum also led to conflict with other prominent scientists, including Descartes.
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| Pascal introduced a primitive form of [[roulette]] and the roulette wheel in his search for a [[perpetual motion]] machine.<ref>
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| [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]], [http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/pascal.html "Inventor of the Week Archive: Pascal : Mechanical Calculator"], May 2003. "Pascal worked on many versions of the devices, leading to his attempt to create a perpetual motion machine. He has been credited with introducing the roulette machine, which was a by-product of these experiments."</ref>
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| ==Adult life, religion, philosophy, and literature==
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| {{bquote|For after all what is man in nature? A nothing in relation to infinity, all in relation to nothing, a central point between nothing and all and infinitely far from understanding either. The ends of things and their beginnings are impregnably concealed from him in an impenetrable secret. He is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness out of which he was drawn and the infinite in which he is engulfed.}}
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| :::::Blaise Pascal, ''Pensées'' No. 72
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| ===Religious conversion===
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| [[File:Pascal Pajou Louvre RF2981.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Pascal studying the [[cycloid]], by [[Augustin Pajou]], 1785, [[Louvre]]]]
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| In the winter of 1646, Pascal's 58-year-old father broke his hip when he slipped and fell on an icy street of Rouen; given the man's age and the state of medicine in the 17th century, a [[Hip fracture|broken hip]] could be a very serious condition, perhaps even fatal. Rouen was home to two of the finest doctors in France: Monsieur Doctor Deslandes and Monsieur Doctor de La Bouteillerie. The elder Pascal "would not let anyone other than these men attend him...It was a good choice, for the old man survived and was able to walk again..."<ref>Connor, James A., ''Pascal's wager: the man who played dice with God'' (HarperCollins, NY, 2006) ISBN 0-06-076691-3 p. 70</ref> But treatment and rehabilitation took three months, during which time La Bouteillerie and Deslandes had become household guests.
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| Both men were followers of [[Jean Guillebert]], proponent of a splinter group from Catholic teaching known as [[Jansenism]]. This still fairly small sect was making surprising inroads into the French Catholic community at that time. It espoused rigorous [[Augustinism]]. Blaise spoke with the doctors frequently, and upon his successful treatment of Étienne, borrowed from them works by Jansenist authors. In this period, Pascal experienced a sort of "first conversion" and began to write on theological subjects in the course of the following year.
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| Pascal fell away from this initial religious engagement and experienced a few years of what some biographers have called his "worldly period" (1648–54). His father died in 1651 and left his inheritance to Pascal and Jacqueline, for whom Pascal acted as her conservator. Jacqueline announced that she would soon become a [[postulant]] in the Jansenist convent of [[Port-Royal-des-Champs|Port-Royal]]. Pascal was deeply affected and very sad, not because of her choice, but because of his chronic poor health; he too needed her.<blockquote>
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| "Suddenly there was war in the Pascal household. Blaise pleaded with Jacqueline not to leave, but she was adamant. He commanded her to stay, but that didn't work, either. At the heart of this was...Blaise's fear of abandonment...if Jacqueline entered Port-Royal, she would have to leave her inheritance behind...[but] nothing would change her mind."<ref>Miel, Jan. ''Pascal and Theology''. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1969), p. 122</ref>
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| </blockquote>
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| By the end of October in 1651, a truce had been reached between brother and sister. In return for a healthy annual stipend, Jacqueline signed over her part of the inheritance to her brother. Gilberte had already been given her inheritance in the form of a dowry. In early January, Jacqueline left for Port-Royal. On that day, according to Gilberte concerning her brother, "He retired very sadly to his rooms without seeing Jacqueline, who was waiting in the little parlor..."<ref>Jacqueline Pascal, ''"Memoir"'' p. 87</ref>
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| In early June 1653, after what must have seemed like endless badgering from Jacqueline,
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| Pascal formally signed over the whole of his sister's inheritance to Port-Royal, which, to him, "had begun to smell like a cult."<ref>Miel, Jan. ''Pascal and Theology''. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1969), p. 124</ref> With two thirds of his father's estate now gone, the 29-year-old Pascal was now consigned to genteel poverty.
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| For a while, Pascal pursued the life of a bachelor. During visits to his sister at Port-Royal in 1654, he displayed contempt for affairs of the world but was not drawn to God.<ref name="ep52">Richard H. Popkin, Paul Edwards (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', 1967 edition, s.v. "Pascal, Blaise.", vol. 6, p. 52–55, New York: Macmillan</ref>
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| ===Brush with death===
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| {{dubious|date=September 2011}}
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| On 23 November 1654, between 10:30 and 12:30 at night, Pascal had an intense [[Vision (religion)|religious vision]] and immediately recorded the experience in a brief note to himself which began: "Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the scholars..." and concluded by quoting Psalm 119:16: "I will not forget thy word. Amen." He seems to have carefully sewn this document into his coat and always transferred it when he changed clothes; a servant discovered it only by chance after his death.<ref name="oc618">Pascal, Blaise. ''Oeuvres complètes''. (Paris: Seuil, 1960), p. 618</ref> This piece is now known as the ''Memorial''. The story of the carriage accident{{clarify|date=July 2012}} as having led to the experience described in the ''Memorial'' is disputed by some scholars.<ref>MathPages, [http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath558/kmath558.htm Hold Your Horses.] For the sources on which the hypothesis of a link between a carriage accident and Pascal's second conversion is based, and for a sage weighing of the evidence for and against, see Henri Gouhier, ''Blaise Pascal: Commentaires'', Vrin, 1984, pp. 379ff.</ref>
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| His belief and religious commitment revitalized, Pascal visited the older of two convents at [[Port-Royal-des-Champs|Port-Royal]] for a two-week retreat in January 1655. For the next four years, he regularly travelled between Port-Royal and Paris. It was at this point immediately after his conversion when he began writing his first major literary work on religion, the ''Provincial Letters''.
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| ===The ''Provincial Letters''===
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| {{Main|Lettres provinciales}}
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| {{French literature sidebar}}
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| Beginning in 1656, Pascal published his memorable attack on [[casuistry]], a popular [[Ethics|ethical]] method used by [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] thinkers in the early modern period (especially the [[Jesuits]], and in particular [[Antonio Escobar y Mendoza|Antonio Escobar]]). Pascal denounced casuistry as the mere use of complex reasoning to justify moral laxity and all sorts of [[sin]]s. The 18-letter series was published between 1656 and 1657 under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte and incensed [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]]. The king ordered that the book be shredded and burnt in 1660. In 1661, in the midsts of the [[formulary controversy]], the Jansenist school at Port-Royal was condemned and closed down; those involved with the school had to sign a 1656 [[papal bull]] condemning the teachings of Jansen as heretical. The final letter from Pascal, in 1657, had defied [[Alexander VII]] himself. Even Pope Alexander, while publicly opposing them, nonetheless was persuaded by Pascal's arguments.
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| Aside from their religious influence, the ''Provincial Letters'' were popular as a literary work. Pascal's use of humor, mockery, and vicious satire in his arguments made the letters ripe for public consumption, and influenced the prose of later French writers like [[Voltaire]] and [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]].
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| The ''Provincial Letters'' also received praise. For example, Charles Perrault wrote of the ''Letters'': "Everything is there—purity of language, nobility of thought, solidity in reasoning, finesse in raillery, and throughout an ''agrément'' not to be found anywhere else."<ref>Charles Perrault, ''Parallèle des Anciens et des Modernes'' (Paris, 1693), Vol. I, p. 296.</ref>
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| ===The ''Pensées''===
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| {{wikisource|Pensées}}
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| {{Main|Pensées}}
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| Pascal's most influential theological work, referred to posthumously as the ''Pensées'' ("Thoughts"), was not completed before his death. It was to have been a sustained and coherent examination and defense of the Christian faith, with the original title ''Apologie de la religion Chrétienne'' ("Defense of the Christian Religion"). The first version of the numerous scraps of paper found after his death appeared in print as a book in 1669 titled ''Pensées de M. Pascal sur la religion, et sur quelques autres sujets'' ("Thoughts of M. Pascal on religion, and on some other subjects") and soon thereafter became a classic. One of the ''Apologie'''s main strategies was to use the contradictory philosophies of [[skepticism]] and [[stoicism]], personalized by [[Montaigne]] on one hand, and [[Epictetus]] on the other, in order to bring the unbeliever to such despair and confusion that he would embrace God.
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| Pascal's ''Pensées'' is widely considered to be a masterpiece, and a landmark in French prose. When commenting on one particular section (Thought #72), [[Sainte-Beuve]] praised it as the finest pages in the French language.<ref name="finest">Sainte-Beuve, [http://books.google.com/books?id=I0P0A8XK29QC&pg=PA167 ''Seventeenth Century''] ISBN 1-113-16675-4 p. 174 (2009 reprint).</ref> [[Will Durant]] hailed it as "the most eloquent book in French prose."<ref name="eloquent">''[[The Story of Civilization]]: Volume 8, "The Age of Louis XIV"'' by [[Will Durant|Will & Ariel Durant]], chapter II, Subsection 4.4, p. 66 ISBN 1-56731-019-2</ref> In ''Pensées'', Pascal surveys several philosophical paradoxes: infinity and nothing, faith and reason, soul and matter, death and life, meaning and vanity—seemingly arriving at no definitive conclusions besides humility, ignorance, and grace. Rolling these into one he develops [[Pascal's Wager]].
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| ===Last works and death===
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| [[File:Epitaph Blaise Pascal Saint-Etienne.jpg|thumb|Pascal's epitaph in [[Saint-Étienne-du-Mont]], where he was buried]]
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| [[T. S. Eliot]] described him during this phase of his life as "a man of the world among ascetics, and an ascetic among men of the world." Pascal's ascetic lifestyle derived from a belief that it was natural and necessary for a person to suffer. In 1659, Pascal fell seriously ill. During his last years, he frequently tried to reject the ministrations of his doctors, saying, "Sickness is the natural state of Christians."<ref name="m104-">Muir, Jane. [http://books.google.com/books?id=uV3rJkmnQhsC&printsec=frontcover ''Of Men and Numbers'']. (New York: Dover Publications, Inc, 1996). ISBN 0-486-28973-7, p. 104.</ref>
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| Louis XIV suppressed the Jansenist movement at Port-Royal in 1661. In response, Pascal wrote one of his final works, ''Écrit sur la signature du formulaire'' ("Writ on the Signing of the Form"), exhorting the Jansenists not to give in. Later that year, his sister Jacqueline died, which convinced Pascal to cease his [[polemics]] on [[Jansenism]]. Pascal's last major achievement, returning to his mechanical genius, was inaugurating perhaps the first bus line, moving passengers within Paris in a carriage with many seats.
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| In 1662, Pascal's illness became more violent, and his emotional condition had severely worsened since his sister's death. Aware that his health was fading quickly, he sought a move to the hospital for incurable diseases, but his doctors declared that he was too unstable to be carried. In Paris on 18 August 1662, Pascal went into convulsions and received [[extreme unction]]. He died the next morning, his last words being "May God never abandon me," and was buried in the cemetery of [[Saint-Étienne-du-Mont]].<ref name="m104-"/>
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| An [[autopsy]] performed after his death revealed grave problems with his stomach and other organs of his abdomen, along with [[brain damage|damage to his brain]]. Despite the autopsy, the cause of his poor health was never precisely determined, though speculation focuses on [[tuberculosis]], [[stomach cancer]], or a combination of the two.<ref name="m103">Muir, Jane. [http://books.google.com/books?id=uV3rJkmnQhsC&printsec=frontcover ''Of Men and Numbers'']. (New York: Dover Publications, Inc, 1996). ISBN 0-486-28973-7, p. 103.</ref> The headaches which afflicted Pascal are generally attributed to his brain [[lesion]].
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| ==Legacy==
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| [[File:001Paskal.JPG|left|thumb|[[Death mask]] of Blaise Pascal.]]
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| In honor of his scientific contributions, the name '''Pascal''' has been given to the [[pascal (unit)|SI unit of pressure]], to a [[Pascal (programming language)|programming language]], and [[Pascal's law]] (an important principle of hydrostatics), and as mentioned above, Pascal's triangle and Pascal's wager still bear his name.
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| Pascal's development of probability theory was his most influential contribution to mathematics.<ref>{{cite web |title=Blaise Pascal|url=http://www.famousscientists.org/blaise-pascal|publisher=FamousScientists.org|accessdate=15 December 2011}}</ref> Originally applied to gambling, today it is extremely important in economics, especially in [[actuarial science]]. John Ross writes, "Probability theory and the discoveries following it changed the way we regard uncertainty, risk, decision-making, and an individual's and society's ability to influence the course of future events."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ross|first1=John F.|title=Pascal's legacy|journal=EMBO Reports|volume=5|pages=S7–S10|year=2004|pmid=15459727|pmc=1299210 |doi=10.1038/sj.embor.7400229|issue=Suppl 1}}</ref> However, it should be noted that Pascal and Fermat, though doing important early work in probability theory, did not develop the field very far. [[Christiaan Huygens]], learning of the subject from the correspondence of Pascal and Fermat, wrote the first book on the subject. Later figures who continued the development of the theory include [[Abraham de Moivre]] and [[Pierre-Simon Laplace]].
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| In literature, Pascal is regarded as one of the most important authors of the French Classical Period and is read today as one of the greatest masters of French prose. His use of satire and wit influenced later [[polemic]]ists. The content of his literary work is best remembered for its strong opposition to the [[rationalism]] of [[René Descartes]] and simultaneous assertion that the main countervailing philosophy, [[empiricism]], was also insufficient for determining major truths.
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| In France, prestigious annual awards, [[Blaise Pascal Chair]]s are given to outstanding international scientists to conduct their research in the [[Île-de-France (region)|Ile de France]] region.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chaires-blaise-pascal.org/uk/index.html |title=Chaires Blaise Pascal |publisher=Chaires Blaise Pascal |accessdate=16 August 2009}}</ref> One of the Universities of [[Clermont-Ferrand]], France – [[Université Blaise Pascal]] – is named after him. The [[University of Waterloo]], Ontario, Canada, holds an annual math contest named in his honour.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/contests/pcf.html |title=CEMC – Pascal, Cayley and Fermat – Mathematics Contests – University of Waterloo |publisher=Cemc.uwaterloo.ca |date=23 June 2008 |accessdate=16 August 2009}}</ref>
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| [[Roberto Rossellini]] directed a filmed biopic (entitled ''Blaise Pascal'') which originally aired on Italian television in 1971.<ref>{{tcmdb title|488698}}</ref> Pascal was a subject of the first edition of the 1984 [[BBC Two]] documentary, ''[[Sea of Faith (TV series)|Sea of Faith]]'', presented by [[Don Cupitt]].
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| ==Works==
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| * ''Essai pour les coniques'' (1639)
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| * ''Experiences nouvelles touchant le vide'' (1647)
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| * ''Traité du triangle arithmétique'' (1653)
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| * ''[[Lettres provinciales]]'' (1656–57)
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| * ''De l'Esprit géométrique'' (1657 or 1658)
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| * ''Écrit sur la signature du formulaire'' (1661)
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| * ''[[Pensées]]'' (incomplete at death)
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| ==See also==
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| {{Portal|Kingdom of France}}
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| * [[Scientific revolution]]
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| ==References==
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| {{reflist|30em}}
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| ==Further reading==
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| {{refbegin}}
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| * [[Donald Adamson|Adamson, Donald]]. ''Blaise Pascal: Mathematician, Physicist, and Thinker about God'' (1995) ISBN 0-333-55036-6
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| * Adamson, Donald. [http://books.google.com/books?id=AMOQZfrZq-EC&pg=PA405 "Pascal's Views on Mathematics and the Divine,"] ''Mathematics and the Divine: A Historical Study'' (eds. T. Koetsier and L. Bergmans. Amsterdam: Elsevier 2005), pp. 407–21.
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| * Broome, J.H. ''Pascal''. (London: E. Arnold, 1965). ISBN 0-7131-5021-1
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| * Davidson, Hugh M. ''Blaise Pascal''. (Boston: Twayne Publishers), 1983.
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| * Farrell, John. "Pascal and Power". Chapter seven of ''Paranoia and Modernity: Cervantes to Rousseau'' (Cornell UP, 2006).
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| * [[Lucien Goldmann|Goldmann, Lucien]], ''The hidden God; a study of tragic vision in the Pensees of Pascal and the tragedies of Racine'' (original ed. 1955, Trans. Philip Thody. London: Routledge, 1964).
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| * [[Douglas Groothuis|Groothuis, Douglas]]. ''On Pascal''. (Belmont: Wadsworth, 2002). ISBN 978-0534583910
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| * Jordan, Jeff. ''Pascal's Wager: Pragmatic Arguments and Belief in God''. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006).
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| * Landkildehus, Søren. "Kierkegaard and Pascal as kindred spirits in the Fight against Christendom" in ''Kierkegaard and the Renaissance and Modern Traditions'' (ed. Jon Stewart. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, 2009).
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| * Mackie, John Leslie. ''The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and against the Existence of God''. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982).
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| * {{cite journal |last1=Saka |first1=Paul |year=2001 |title=Pascal's Wager and the Many Gods Objection |url= |journal=Religious Studies |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=321–41 |doi=10.1017/S0034412501005686}}
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| * {{cite book |last=Stephen |first=Leslie |authorlink=Leslie Stephen|title=Studies of a Biographer |volume=2 |publisher=Duckworth and Co. |location=London |pages=241–284 |chapter=[[s:en:Studies of a Biographer/Pascal|Pascal]]}}
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| * Tobin, Paul. "The Rejection of Pascal's Wager: A Skeptic's Guide to the Bible and the Historical Jesus". authorsonline.co.uk, 2009.
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| * [[Yves Morvan]], ''Pascal à Mirefleurs ? Les dessins de la maison de Domat'', Impr. Blandin, 1985.(FRBNF40378895)
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| {{refend}}
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| ==External links==
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| {{Sister project links|voy=no}}
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| *{{sep entry|pascal|Blaise Pascal|Desmond Clarke}}
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| * [http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~eknuth/pascal.html Pascal's Memorial] in orig. French/Latin and modern English, trans. Elizabeth T. Knuth.
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| * [http://www.biblioweb.org/-PASCAL-Blaise-.html Biography, Bibliography.] (in French)
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| * {{gutenberg author|Pascal+Blaise|Blaise Pascal}}
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| * {{OL_author|id=OL127510A}}
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| * [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jbourj/money5.htm Blaise Pascal featured on the 500 French Franc banknote in 1977.]
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| * [http://www.intratext.com/Catalogo/Autori/Aut852.htm Blaise Pascal's works]: text, concordances and frequency lists
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| * {{CathEncy|wstitle=Blaise Pascal}}
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| * Etext of Pascal's ''[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pascal/pensees.html Pensées]'' (English, in various formats)
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| * Etext of Pascal's ''[http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/pascal/letters-a.html Lettres Provinciales]'' (English)
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| * Etext of a number of Pascal's [http://www.bartleby.com/48/3/ minor works] (English translation) including, ''De l'Esprit géométrique'' and ''De l'Art de persuader''.
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| * {{MacTutor Biography|id=Pascal}}
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| <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
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| {{Persondata
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| |NAME= Pascal, Blaise
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| |ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
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| |SHORT DESCRIPTION= French mathematician, physicist, philosopher
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| |DATE OF BIRTH= 19 June 1623
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| |PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Clermont-Ferrand]], France
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| |DATE OF DEATH= 19 August 1662
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| |PLACE OF DEATH= Paris, France
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| }}
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