Étienne Pascal

Étienne Pascal (Clermont, May 2 1588 - Paris, September 24 1651) was the father of Blaise Pascal. He also had three daughters, two of whom survived past childhood: Gilberte (°1620) and Jacqueline (°1625). His wife Antoinette Begon died in 1626.

He was a local judge and member of the petite noblesse, who also had an interest in science and mathematics. He taught his son himself.

Étienne Pascal served on a scientific committee (whose members included Pierre Hérigone and Claude Mydorge) set up to determine whether Jean-Baptiste Morin's scheme for determining longitude from the Moon's motion was practical.

The Limaçon was first studied and named by Étienne Pascal and so this mathematical curve is often called Pascal's Limaçon.

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