Jean de Charpentier

Jean de Charpentier or Johann von Charpentier (8 December 1786 – 12 December 1855) was a German-Swiss geologist who studied Swiss glaciers.

He was born in Freiberg, Electorate of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire and died in Bex, Switzerland.

In 1818 a catastrophic event changed his life focus when an ice-dammed lake in the Val de Bagnes above Martigny broke through its barrier,[1] causing many deaths.

Using evidence of erratic boulders and moraines and drawing on the works of Goethe,[2] he hypothesized that Swiss glaciers had once been much more extensive.

The glacier of Charpentierbreen in Nathorst Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard is named after him.