Charles François Exchaquet (1746–1792)[1]

Charles François Exchaquet, son of a Swiss pastor, lived 1780–1792 near the Mont Blanc in Servoz (Haute-Savoie, France), where he was ”Directeur général des Mines et Fonderies du Haut Faucigny”. As a result of his explorations around the Mont Blanc, he created a terrain model of the highest mountain in Europe. At this time, the first climb reached the summit of the Mont Blanc (1786), and the first scientists, like Horace-Bénédict de Saussure from Geneva (1740–1799), began to study this region. For the construction of the terrain model, Exchaquet only had his own observations and some compass bearings beside some rudimentary maps available.

Later on, Exchaquet created several models of different Swiss regions.