He designed the Roquefavour Aqueduct, near Aix-en-Provence in France, and drained the Fucine Lake in Central Italy.

Jean François Mayor de Montricher was born on 19 April 1810 in Lully, Vaud, Switzerland.

His father, Jean Charles Louis Mayor de Montricher, was a businessman who moved to Marseille for work.

[4] On 30 September 1852 Emperor Louis Napoléon Bonaparte awarded him with the Legion of Honor for his work.

[4] Later, he was commissioned by Alessandro Torlonia, 2nd Prince of Civitella-Cesi, to drain the Fucine Lake in Central Italy.