Michel Paccard

Biography

Michel Gabriel Paccard (French pronunciation: [miʃɛl ɡabʁijɛl pakaʁ]; 1757–1827) was a Savoyard medical doctor and alpinist, citizen of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Born in Chamonix, he studied medicine in Turin.[citation needed] Due to his passion for botany and minerals, he met Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, who initiated the race to be the first to ascend Mont Blanc.

In 1975 Gaston Rébuffat wrote "Like Saussure a devotee of the natural sciences, he has a dream: to carry a barometer to the summit and take a reading there. An excellent mountaineer, he has already made several attempts."

Paccard had a first, unsuccessful, attempt in 1783 with Marc Theodore Bourrit. In 1784, he made several atte...