Final answer:
Blaise Pascal is credited with investigating the effects of atmospheric pressure when elevating water using his experiments related to atmospheric pressure and how it varies with height.
Step-by-step explanation:
In attempting to pipe water to elevated heights and investigate atmospheric pressure, it was Evangelista Torricelli, a student of Galileo, who invented the barometer in 1643. However, the person credited with investigating the effect of atmospheric pressure when pumping water to heights is Blaise Pascal. Pascal's experiments in the mid-17th century confirmed the existence of atmospheric pressure and that it is not linked to a vacuum's pull but rather to air weight pushing downward. Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, and Archimedes made significant contributions to physics and the study of fluids, but Pascal's experiments are most closely associated with the understanding of atmospheric pressure as it relates to elevating water.
While Torricelli gave us the device to measure atmospheric pressure, and Robert Boyle established the relationship between gas pressure and volume (now known as Boyle's Law), it was Pascal's work that directly addressed the question's context. In one of his most famous experiments, Pascal demonstrated that atmospheric pressure decreases with height by taking a barometer up a mountain and showing a decrease in the mercury level inside the tube.