Odéon in Paris in Département de Paris, Île-de-France, France — Western Europe
Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)
— Histoire de Paris —
Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, July 27, 2022
1. Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662) Marker
Orphelin de mère à 3 ans, Pascal ne tarde pas à se révéler "un effrayant génie", selon le mot de Chateaubriand: auteur à 11 ans d'un traité sur la propagation des sons, il redécouvre en cachette l'année suivante les 32 propositions d’Euclide. Son père, ému, l'admet dans la société de ses amis mathématiciens, Roberval, Fermat ou le père Mersenne, et il invente la première machine à calculer. Le 8 novembre 1654, les chevaux de son carrosse prennent le mors aux dents sur le pont de Neuilly: resté suspendu au parapet par une sorte de miracle, le jeune homme traverse alors une crise mystique. Retiré ici, il quitte la vie mondaine menée depuis son arrivée à Paris pour se rapprocher du jansénisme, et rédiger successivement "les Provinciales", destinées à confondre les jésuites, puis une "Apologie du Christianisme” que sa santé fragile ne lui laisse pas le temps d'achever. En effet, le 29 juin 1662, le philosophe se fait transporter chez sa sœur afin de laisser sa chambre à un enfant malade; il meurt le 19 août, à 39 ans, et seuls des fragments sont publiés, à titre posthume : les "Pensées".
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Motherless at the age of 3, Pascal wasted no time in revealing himself to be "a frightening genius", in the words of Chateaubriand: author at the age of 11 of a treatise on the propagation of sounds, the following year he secretly rediscovered Euclid's 32 propositions. His father, impressed, admits him into the society of his mathematician friends, Roberval, Fermat and Father Marin Mersenne, and he invents the first calculating machine. On November 8, 1654, the horses of his carriage took the bit between their teeth on the Neuilly bridge: remaining suspended from the parapet by a kind of miracle, the young man then went through a mystical crisis. From this date on he withdrew, leaving the social life he had led since his arrival in Paris in order to get closer to Jansenism, and successively wrote "Les Provinciales", intended to refute the Jesuits, then an "Apologie du Christianity" that his fragile health did not leave him time to complete. Indeed, on June 29, 1662, the philosopher had himself transported to his sister's house in order to leave his room to a sick child; he died on August 19, at the age of 39, and only fragments were posthumously published: the "Pensées" ("Thoughts").
Erected by Ville de Paris.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music
Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, July 27, 2022
2. Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662) Marker - wide view
The marker is visible here peeking above the bed of the white truck.
Location. 48° 50.904′ N, 2° 20.437′ E. Marker is in Paris, Île-de-France, in Département de Paris. It is in Odéon. Marker is on Rue Monsieur le Prince, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 54 Rue Monsieur le Prince, Paris, Île-de-France 75006, France. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Blaise Pascal (here, next to this marker); Paul Verlaine (within shouting distance of this marker); Robert Jacques Houbre (about 90 meters away, measured in a direct line); Charles Aznavour (about 90 meters away); Knut Hamsun (about 90 meters away); Miklós Radnóti (1909-1944) (about 120 meters away); Gabriel Garcia Marquez (about 120 meters away); Victor Emile Michelet (about 120 meters away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Paris.
Also see . . .
1. Blaise Pascal (Wikipedia).
Overview and his contribution to machine calculation: Blaise Pascal (19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer… In 1642, while still a teenager, he started some pioneering work on calculating machines (called Pascal's calculators and later Pascalines), establishing him as one of the first two inventors of the mechanical calculator.(Submitted on January 29, 2023.)
2. Pascal’s Calculator (Wikipedia).
Overview: Pascal's calculator (also known as the arithmetic machine or Pascaline) is a mechanical calculator invented by Blaise Pascal in 1642. Pascal was led to develop a calculator by the laborious arithmetical calculations required by his father's work as the supervisor of taxes in Rouen. He designed the machine to add and subtract two numbers directly and to perform multiplication and division through repeated addition or subtraction…Pascal's calculator was especially successful in the design of its carry mechanism, which adds 1 to 9 on one dial, and carries 1 to the next dial when the first dial changes from 9 to 0. His innovation made each digit independent of the state of the others, enabling multiple carries to rapidly cascade from one digit to another regardless of the machine's capacity. Pascal was also the first to shrink and adapt for his purpose a lantern gear, used in turret clocks and water wheels. This innovation allowed the device to resist the strength of any operator input with very little added friction…(Submitted on January 29, 2023.)
Credits. This page was last revised on January 30, 2023. It was originally submitted on January 29, 2023, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California. This page has been viewed 96 times since then and 47 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on January 29, 2023, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California.
