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The SI derived unit of pressure is named the pascal

In 1971 the 14th Conférence générale des poids et mesures adopted the name pascal (Pa) for the SI unit of pressure, newton per square metre. In the causal graph this event strengthens the driver Industrial-Policy Activism.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

In 1971 the 14th Conférence générale des poids et mesures adopted the name pascal (Pa) for the SI unit of pressure, newton per square metre. Pascal did not attend. Hydrostatics he printed is the cited ancestor.

Context

A unit name is metrological infrastructure, not a clinic. It standardises engineering and weather data. Complex, late, and real.

Blaise Pascal is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

Why it matters

High confidence on 1971.

High confidence on 1971.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Blaise Pascal

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.16 · verified

    Mathematician, Jansenist controversialist, and inventor as documented. Printers, Port-Royal, and later metrologists reuse the name.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactThe SI derived unit of pressure is named the pascal
    2. strengthensDriverIndustrial-Policy Activism

    impact weight 0.3 · Effect from 1 January 1971 · verified

    High confidence on 1971.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.BIPM — SI derived units (pascal)Bureau international des poids et mesures · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Britannica — Pascal’s lawEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, and museums are not converted into extra lifetime acts. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself. Confidence is stated on the impact path. A later English edition is not a recovered autograph. If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here. Confidence is stated on the impact path.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorBlaise Pascal
  2. contributed toFactThe SI derived unit of pressure is named the pascal
  3. strengthensDriverIndustrial-Policy Activism

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). The SI derived unit of pressure is named the pascal. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/pa-si-pascal-1971

https://factrail.ai/facts/pa-si-pascal-1971

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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