Pascal's Calculator - History - Tercentenary Celebration

Tercentenary Celebration

Pascal tercentenary celebration of his invention of the mechanical calculator happened during WWII when France was occupied by Germany and therefore the main celebration was held in London, England. Some of the speeches given best describe his achievement:

...when he invented the calculating machine - essentially a practical instrument - Pascal was already well known in the realm of pure mathematics. His perseverance with this invention helped one to appreciate more fully the character of Pascal. He had to fight not only ill-health but also the ignorance of his time, for his conception far out-stripped the mechanical experience and ability of those to whom the work was entrusted. It was not until Pascal had made more than fifty models that he achieved his final design.
The invention of the calculating machine illustrated Pascal's extraordinary creative imagination, allied with mathematical genius and precision, and tempered with critical penetration. These qualities were characteristic of the man throughout his life. —Prof. René Cassin, Pascal tercentenary celebration, London, (1942) Pascal's invention of the calculating machine, just three hundred years ago, was made while he was a youth of nineteen. He was spurred to it by seeing the burden of arithmetical labor involved in his father's official work as supervisor of taxes at Rouen. He conceived the idea of doing the work mechanically, and developed a design appropriate for this purpose ; showing herein the same combination of pure science and mechanical genius that characterized his whole life. But it was one thing to conceive and design the machine, and another to get it made and put into use. Here were needed those practical gifts that he displayed later in his inventions....
In a sense, Pascal's invention was premature, in that the mechanical arts in his time were not sufficiently advanced to enable his machine to be made at an economic price, with the accuracy and strength needed for reasonably long use. This difficulty was not overcome until well on into the nineteenth century, by which time also a renewed stimulus to invention was given by the need for many kinds of calculation more intricate than those considered by Pascal. —S. Chapman, Pascal tercentenary celebration, London, (1942)