Blaise Pascal was born in Clemont-Ferrand (France) in 1623. Before reaching the age of twenty he had made decisive contributions to geometry, hydrostatics, differential calculus and the study of probability, as well as designing a machine that could do addition and you subtract by moving wheels.

In 1654 a mystical revelation prompted him to abandon science to focus on Christianity, and among his preferences was Jansenism, a movement that pursued a strict moral exercise inspired by Saint Augustine. Pascal participated in the religious controversies of his time by writing the 18 "Provincial Letters" (1656-1657) in which he sided with the Jansenist Antoine Arnauld in his polemic with the Jesuits.

Emboldened by the success of the letters, Pascal projected a general defense of the Christian religion. He worked intensively on it, but the disease that manifested itself in 1658 was laminating his health until it took his life in 1662. All the preparatory writings for the great work that did not finish are usually grouped and published under the name of Thoughts. In his will, he arranged to hand over all his material goods to charities.