The Tercentenary of Blaise Pascal

Abstract

NO one can read the story of Pascal's life without amazement at the greatness of his genius and sadness at the mode in which it found expression. To Voltaire in the eighteenth century he is a “fou sublime, ne un siecle trop tot.” To Chateaubriand in the early nineteenth century he is “cet effrayant genie, qui, a cet age ou les autres hommes commencent a peine de naitre, ayant acheve de parcourir le cercle des sciences humaines, sapergut de leur neant et tourna ses pensees vers la religion.” He lived at the beginning of the brilliant leadership of France in the intellectual development of Europe. In his short life he did notable work in mathematics and physics, and above all (to continue the quotation from Chateaubriand), “toujours infirme et souffrant, fixa la langue que parlerent Bossuet et Racine, donna le modele de la plus parfaite plaisanterie, comme du raisonnement le plus fort.”