Alphonse Favre


Jean Alphonse Favre was a Swiss geologist. He was a pioneer of alpine geology and became director of the Swiss Geological Commission .
He studied natural sciences at the Academy of Geneva, then chemistry and mineralogy in Paris. From 1844 to 1852 he taught classes in geology and paleontology at the Academy of Geneva.
He specialized in geological research of the Savoy and Mont Blanc, that included studies of ancient glaciers associated with those regions. His explanation of the geological structure showed that certain anomalous incidents of fossils were due to recurring interfoldings of the strata and to complex overthrust faults.

Selected works

in Greenland was named after him by fellow Swiss geologist Heinrich Bütler.