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Saturday, June 9, 2012

Blaise Pascal Inventions

Blaise Pascal Inventions









Have you ever heard of a child prodigy? Many of these prodigies are well-known for their achievements in such things as music or the arts but it is also possible for a child prodigy to show unusual achievements in the areas of mathematics. This is the case with Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, philosopher and physicist that lived during the 17th century. Some of his inventions were so far ahead of their time that the concepts are still used today, although they have been improved on over the years. Here are a few Blaise Pascal inventions that you may or may not have heard of.






Since this man was both an inventor and a mathematician, one of his most notable achievements was that of an early calculator. As a matter of fact, this is probably one of the best-known of the Blaise Pascal inventions that are in existence. Known as a Pascaline, it was the second such calculator that was developed. He had a lot of commercial success with this particular calculator and it came in both decimal and non-decimal versions.






Another of the Blaise Pascal inventions that you may be familiar with is the syringe. Although it is not something that we necessarily enjoy getting, every time we receive a shot that is to our benefit we have this man to thank. Actually, the entire concept for the syringe came about as a result of Pascal's principal which states, a change in the pressure of an enclosed incompressible fluid is conveyed undiminished to every part of the fluid and to the surfaces of its container.






Blaise Pascal also used the same concept in order to help invent a hydraulic press. This is one of the Blaise Pascal inventions that is still being used today. Although it was not used in that particular way during his time, the entire concept was rather interesting and although it was used in some ways, its widespread use was not fully realized until the 20th century.