Jacques-Barthélemy Micheli du Crest

Who was Jacques-Barthélemy Micheli du Crest?

Jacques-Barthélemy Micheli du Crest was a Genevan military engineer, physicist and cartographer. Born into the aristocracy, he eventually fled to France as an enemy of Geneva and eventually spent his later years in Aarburg Castle as a political prisoner. During his time there, he mapped the Alps accurately using rudimentary tools. One of his other major accomplishments whilst in exile was to create a thermometer and a temperature scale, which was commonly used in Switzerland and around Europe until it became obsolete in the 19th century.