Blaise Pascal was the genius who did everything and more before he was 40. He was born in France in 1623 and showed from an early age that numbers and complex ideas were his thing.

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A prodigy mathematician, he invented the first mechanical calculator (because doing maths by hand was the stuff of ordinary mortals) and helped found the theory of probability - basically making casinos and insurance possible.

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After all this, he had an existential crisis, immersed himself in religion and wrote ‘Thoughts’, where he argued that betting on the existence of God was the safest move (known as ‘Pascal's Wager’). He died in 1662, but left a legacy so vast that it is still a reference to this day, whether in science, philosophy or the art of making good bets.