Michel Benoist

Michel Benoist was a Jesuit scientist who served for thirty years in the court of the Qianlong Emperor during the Qing dynasty, known for his architectural and landscape designs of the Old Summer Palace. Along with Giuseppe Castiglione, Benoist served as one of two Jesuit advisors to the Qianlong Emperor, and transformed parts of the Old Summer Palace into what historian Mark Elliott calls an "imitation of Versailles or Fontainebleau." ^{Michel Benoist, French scientist and missionary (d. 1774)}

8 October 1715

Born on the same birth day (8 October): Alphons Egli • Andrea Anastasi • Betty Boothroyd • Branislav Mezei • Edythe Chapman • Emiel Puttemans • Frank Herbert • Fred Stolle • Georgy Geshev • Herbert B. Leonard • Jamie Marchi • Jim Fairchild • Kirk Alyn • Louis Vierne • Marina Tsvetaeva • Michele Sepe • Neil Harvey • Nick Bakay • Pepper Adams • Phil Mustard • Ursula von der Leyen

Born in the same month (October 1715): Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau