Horace Bénédict de Saussure

Horace Bénédict de Saussure was a Genevan geologist, meteorologist, physicist, mountaineer and Alpine explorer, born on 17 February 1740. He is often called the founder of alpinism, and he explored the Mont Blanc massif in particular. In 1760 he offered a reward to the first man to reach the summit of Mont Blanc, and after Michel Paccard and Jacques Balmat succeeded in 1786 he made the third ascent himself in 1787. He also climbed the Buet, the Crammont, the Roche Michel and the Klein Matterhorn, and he gathered his Alpine observations in the four volumes of Voyages dans les Alpes.