Simon-Pierre Brossier (Versailles, 1756 – 1832)
Son of a building entrepreneur, he studied figure drawing and civil and military architecture from his childhood. Later he studied at the University of Paris. In 1772 he was employed as a calculateur for the land register in Corsica, and the following year he was employed by the Foreign Office, where he became a licensed geographical-engineer. In 1779 he enrolled as a military geographical-engineer, with the rank of second lieutenant à la suite of the dragoons. From 1786 to 1793 he served in the Pyrenees, where in 1793 he became provisional assistant general in the army of the Eastern Pyrenees; however, he was suspended before obtaining his commission, arrested at Bayonne, judged and absolved. In 1795 he was chief of the topographical cabinet of the Comittee of Public Safety. He was promoted to battalion chief on 21 April 1800 and to colonel on 21 October, a rank that only became official in 1808 with the organization of the corps. From 1800 to 1814 he worked on mapping Italy, taking part in the campaigns of 1805 and of 1809. In 1817 he retired, but as of the following year directed the map of France he had planned, which became the General Staff Map, completed in 1880 on a 1:80,000 scale. He was decorated as a knight of the Legion of Honour on 17 July 1809 and became an officer on 4 May 1821 (Cf. SHD, 8Yd 2319, 3M 300, AN, LH/373/48, EBA, b. 47, f. 4, b. 33, f. 2, Berthaut, Henri-Marie-Auguste. 1902. Les ingénieurs géographes militaires, 1624-1831. Paris: Imprimerie du service géographique, 2 vols., Id. 1898-1899. La Carte de France, 1750-1898. Étude historique, [Paris]: imprimerie du Service géographique, 2 vols.).