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 …