Blaise Pascal
1623 – 1662
Proved air pressure falls with altitude; the pascal is his.
French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher, Pascal proved in 1648 — via his brother-in-law's ascent of the Puy de Dôme — that atmospheric pressure falls with altitude. He also founded probability theory and built an early mechanical calculator.
The SI unit of pressure is named for him. The pressure and standard-atmosphere tools here rest on the experiment he designed.
Portrait: a stylized blueprint-line rendering, not a photograph.
Contributions in the toolbox
- 1648
Puy de Dôme experiment proves pressure falls with altitude.
→ Standard Atmosphere - 1648
Puy de Dôme experiment: pressure falls with altitude.
→ Pressure Converter - 1653
Pressure transmits equally in a confined fluid.
→ Hydraulic Cylinder Force