Joseph Vallot (16 February 1854 – 11 April 1925) was a French scientist, astronomer, botanist, geographer, cartographer and alpinist and "one of the founding fathers of scientific research on Mont Blanc". He is known mainly for his fascination with Mont Blanc and his work in funding and constructing a high-altitude observatory below its summit, and for the many years of study and research work that he and his wife conducted both there, and at their base in Chamonix. The observatory and adjacent refuge that he constructed for use by mountain guides and their clients attempting Mont Blanc summit both still bear his name today, despite being rebuilt in modern times.
He received many awards for his scientific achievements, including France's Legion of Honour.
Life
Joseph Vallot was born on 16 February 1854 at Lodève in southern France. His father was Émile Vallot and he had a cousin, Henri - both of whom Joseph collaborated professionally with in later life. Vallot's family were wealthy, having made their fortunes in the dye and textile business, and this allowed him to pursue and fund his many grand scientific undertakings throughout his life. Joseph Vallot received a classical education in Paris, first at the Lycée Charlemagne and then the Sorbonne. He subsequently undertook studies at the Laboratoire de Recherche des Hautes Etudes, the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle and at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. His interests were initially mostly in botany and geology, and he wrote articles on the plants of Africa and of the Pyrenees, publishing many alpine articles after 1886 in the annals of the French Alpine Club, of which he was a member of the Paris section. He later became the vice-president of the Société botanique de France.
Vallot first visited Chamonix around 1877 and became fascinated with the glaciated mountains of the Mont Blanc massif. In 1880, he married the climber and speleologist, Gabrielle Pérou. They had three children: two sons, André and René, and a daughter, Madeleine. She became an alpinist herself; married the painter and went on to gain a female record for the ascent of Mont Blanc in 1920. Both he and his wife typically wore pith helmets in the mountains.
Vallot's initial interests were to follow his training as a botanist. Between 1881 and 1889 he published a range of botanical articles in various journals. These included monographs on the flora around Fontainebleu; the plants found in the pavements of Paris; the plants of Corsica; the flora of Senegal as well as the vegetation of the Pyrenees. It was to compare the vegetation between the Pyrenees and the Alps that Joseph Vallot came to Chamonix. with the Société géologique de France.
Fascinated by the mountains all around Chamonix, Vallot engaged guides to not only climb Mont Blanc, but also to undertake more difficult routes such as the Aiguille du Dru, even collecting alpine plants at the same time. In 1886 he made two ascents of Mont Blanc, but realised that daily arduous climbs with short stops at the summit were impracticable for serious scientific investigation. At that time it was not known if it were possible for a human to survive a night at such an extreme altitude. So Vallot determined to find out for himself.
Mont Blanc Observatories
Joseph Vallot has been described as "one of the founding fathers of scientific research on Mont Blanc". He first scaled its summit in 1881 which triggered a life-long fascination with the mountain and its environs.