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Why is the SI unit of pressure called the pascal?
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Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal, oil painting by an anonymous artist, c. 1650; in the Musée Carnavalet–Histoire de Paris, Paris. Pascal laid the foundation for probability theory.
The SI unit of pressure, the pascal (Pa), is named in honor of the French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal.1
The unit was named for him because of his foundational contributions to the study of fluid mechanics. Specifically, he formulated Pascal’s principle, which states that a pressure change applied to an enclosed fluid is transmitted undiminished to every portion of the fluid and to the walls of its container. Pascal also discovered that the pressure at any given point in a fluid at rest is the same in all directions.23
Defined as one newton per square meter, the pascal serves as the standard unit of pressure and stress within the International System of Units.1