Even though the French genius, Blaise Pascal, could solve great scientific problems, he relied on God for his salvation. In his religious masterpieces, called the Pensées, he said man is a paradox of greatness and weakness.
Born in 1623 and home-schooled by his father, Blaise wrote his first scientific paper at age eight. He wrote a mathematical essay that broke new ground in geometry at 16.
Wait, there’s more! At 19, Blaise invented the calculating machine, a forerunner to the modern computer. At 23, he made major discoveries in physics and proved the existence of the vacuum. (not the cleaner.) On and on, Blaise blazed the path for hypodermic syringes, barometers, and hydraulic devices. He presented the mathematical theory of probability and helped shape the field of calculus.
But in his teens, Blaise suffered from a crippling leg disorder and was often in severe pain. Yet this problem did not stop him. Even in the worst pain, his thoughts overrode the physical and he’d write down the solution to some difficult mathematical problem.
He was affected by his niece’s miraculously healed tumor. When he lived through a near-fatal carriage accident, he reached out to Jesus for his salvation. That day was so important to him that he wrote a reminder on parchment and sewed into his coat’s lining, and it was found there upon his death. Blaise grew deep in Christ and wrote about it.
When at 39 he lay dying in great pain, he noticed the poor trudging in the streets. He then formed the idea for the bus, public transportation.
To God Be the Glory