Étienne Pascal (; 2 May 1588 – 24 September 1651) was a French chief tax officer and the father of Blaise Pascal (1623–1662).
Biography
Pascal was born in Clermont to Martin Pascal, the treasurer of France, and Marguerite Pascal de Mons. Pascal moved with his children to Paris. They hired Louise Delfault, a maid who eventually became an instrumental member of the family. Pascal, who never remarried, decided to home-educate his children, who showed extraordinary intellectual ability, particularly his son Blaise.
Pascal served on a scientific committee (whose members included Pierre Hérigone and Claude Mydorge) 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 Pascal, and so this mathematical curve is often called Pascal's limaçon.
Pascal died in Paris.