ABSTRACT
Blaise Pascal was the middle child of an upper-class magistrate in ClermontFerrand, France. His mother died when he was 3 years old, and five years later Pascal's father moved the family to Paris. His father, Etienne, an excellent amateur mathematician, educated young Blaise at home. At Rouen, Blaise Pascal began to concentrate on mathematics. While still a teenager, he wrote his first book and developed a plan for a calculating machine to help his father with his tax work. In 1647, Pascal became seriously ill and returned to Paris with his younger sister to recover. Following his father's death in 1651, his sister entered a convent, leaving Pascal alone. Over the next several years, Pascal seemed to drift: he outwardly enjoyed the social life of Paris as a successful mathematician and eligible bachelor, but he was inwardly dissatisfied. He wrote a remarkable series of Provincial Letters defending the Jansenists against the Jesuits.
