<b>The Pens&eacute;es </b>(Thoughts) is a collection of fragments written by the French 17th-century philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal. Pascal&#39;s religious conversion led him into a life of asceticism, and the Pens&eacute;es was in many ways his life&#39;s work. It represented Pascal&#39;s defense of the Christian religion, and the concept of &quot;Pascal&#39;s wager&quot; stems from a portion of this work.<br /><br /><b>Blaise Pascal</b> (19 June 1623 &ndash; 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer.