1. The prize was offered by Horace Bénédict de Saussure, praised by many as the first modern meteorologist and inventor of the solar oven. 2. Mont Blanc was first climbed in 1786 by Jacques Balmat and Michel-Gabriel Paccard. 3. The first woman to reach the summit, in 1808, was Marie Paradis, a maidservant in Chamonix. […]
