Letters and Other Minor Works

An important historical figure to this day, Blaise Pascal was born in Clermont-Ferrand, France in 1623. A very bright child, Pascal was homeschooled by his father and later moved to Paris. Though his family was religious, involved in Jansenism, Pascal was much more interested in science and mathematics. By seventeen, he had completed a geometric treatise, and by nineteen he invented the mechanical calculator. However, by 1654, Pascal abandoned his scientific endeavors and lived out the rest of h