Colonel Mark Beaufoy FRS (4 March 1764 – 4 May 1827) was an English astronomer and physicist,[1] mountaineer, explorer and British Army officer.
He describes his ascent of Mont Blanc: At last, however, but with a sort of apathy which scarcely admitted the sense of joy, we reached the summit of the mountain; when six of my guides, and with them my servant, threw themselves on their faces and were immediately asleep.
The article includes an illustration of his apparatus showing a hull form being subjected to a controlled heeling force with a plumb bob and scale to measure the inclination.
Beaufoy also made astronomical observations and advocated other ideas like rifles in the militia and schemes for reaching the North Pole.
Beaufoy was commissioned Captain of the Hackney Volunteer Company in 1794 and Colonel of the 1st Regiment of Tower Hamlets Militia in 1797.