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Blaise Pascal [a] (19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen .
In the letters, Pascal's tone combines the fervor of a convert with the wit and polish of a man of the world. Their style meant that, quite apart from their religious influence, the Provincial Letters were popular as a literary work. Adding to that popularity was Pascal's use of humor, mockery, and satire in his arguments.
In the hands of Blaise Pascal hydrostatics assumed the dignity of a science, and in a treatise on the equilibrium of liquids (Sur l’équilibre des liqueurs), found among his manuscripts after his death and published in 1663, the laws of the equilibrium of liquids were demonstrated in the most simple manner, and amply confirmed by experiments. [4]
A set of communicating vessels Animation showing the filling of communicating vessels. Communicating vessels or communicating vases [1] are a set of containers containing a homogeneous fluid and connected sufficiently far below the top of the liquid: when the liquid settles, it balances out to the same level in all of the containers regardless of the shape and volume of the containers.
[4] [5] In Bostrom's description, [2] Blaise Pascal is accosted by a mugger who has forgotten their weapon. However, the mugger proposes a deal: the philosopher gives them his wallet, and in exchange the mugger will return twice the amount of money tomorrow. Pascal declines, pointing out that it is unlikely the deal will be honoured.
Pascal’s conversion experience, with its distinctly Mosaic overtones, would eventually lead him to show that Christianity’s firmest foundation is the sanctity of Judaism, both past and present.
The style of the book has been described as aphoristic [3], or by Peter Kreeft as more like a collection of "sayings" than a book. [4]Pascal is sceptical of cosmological arguments for God's existence and says that when religious people present such arguments they give atheists "ground for believing that the proofs of our religion are very weak". [5]
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) published his first poem at the age of 10; at the age of 13 years, he published a book of political satire poems. [28]Winifred Sackville Stoner Jr. (1902–1983) learned to speak Esperanto as a five-year-old and since the age of six had written and submitted rhymes to newspapers and magazines.