Guillaume-Henri Dufour
| Guillaume Henri Dufour | |
|---|---|
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|
| Born |
15 September 1787 Konstanz, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 14 July 1875 (aged 87) Geneva, Switzerland |
| Allegiance |
 France (1810–1817) Switzerland (1817–1875)
|
| Service/branch |
French Army Military of Switzerland |
| Years of service | 1810–1875 |
| Rank |
General (France) General (Switzerland) |
| Commands held | Swiss Federal Office of Topography |
| Battles/wars |
Defence of Corfu Sonderbund War |
| Awards | Légion d'Honneur |
| Other work | Professor of mathematics, cartographer, founding committee of the International Red Cross |
| Signature |  |
Guillaume Henri Dufour (15 September 1787 – 14 July 1875) was a Swiss army officer, bridge engineer and topographer. He served under Napoleon I and held the office of General four times in career, with the first being in 1847 when he led the Swiss forces to victory against the Sonderbund. Dufour presided over the First Geneva Convention which established the International Red Cross. He was founder and president of the Swiss Federal Office of Topography from 1838 to 1865.
The Dufourspitze (the highest mountain in Switzerland) in the Monte Rosa Massif is named after Dufour.
Dufour was born in Konstanz, where his parents were temporarily exiled from Geneva. His father Bénédict was a Genevan watchmaker and farmer, who sent his son to school in Geneva, where he studied drawing and medicine. In 1807, Dufour travelled to Paris to join the École Polytechnique, then a military academy. He studied descriptive geometry under Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, and graduated fifth in his class in 1809, going on to study military engineering at the École d'Application. In 1810, he was sent to help defend Corfu against the British, and spent his time mapping the island's old fortifications.
By 1814, he had returned to France, and was awarded the Croix de la Légion d'Honneur for his work repairing fortifications at Lyons. In 1817, he returned to Geneva to become commander of the Canton of Geneva's military engineers, as well as a professor of mathematics at the University of Geneva. His duties included preparing a map of the Canton.
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