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Melvyn Bragg and his guests begin a new series of the programme with a discussion of the French polymath Blaise Pascal. Born in 1623, Pascal was a brilliant mathematician and scientist, inventing one of the first mechanical calculators and making important discoveries about fluids and vacuums while still a young man. In his thirties he experienced a religious conversion, after which he devoted most of his attention to philosophy and theology. Although he died in his late thirties, Pascal left a formidable legacy as a scientist and pioneer of probability theory, and as one of seventeenth century Europe's greatest writers.

With:

David Wootton\\nAnniversary Professor of History at the University of York

Michael Moriarty\\nDrapers Professor of French at the University of Cambridge

Michela Massimi\\nSenior Lecturer in the Philosophy of Science at the University of Edinburgh.

Producer: Thomas Morris.