Numa Droz, the youngest Federal Councillor to date

A recent book by historian Olivier Meuwly invites us to take a closer look at this Neuchâtel native, who was elected to the Swiss government at the age of 31. An inspiring figure in his own right, this radical who became a liberal-conservative over time retains an air of mystery about him.

It took a historian from Vaud, admittedly a specialist in radicalism in French-speaking Switzerland, to decide to exploit the Numa Droz collection available in the Neuchâtel cantonal archives. It was with this joke, launched as an invitation to continue the work, that Olivier Meuwly introduced his talk at the opening of his biography on February 12 at the Cercle National in Neuchâtel.

Numa Droz (1844-1899), who was a member of this founding association of the Cantonal Republic and is still active today, remains the youngest Federal Councillor in history. Elected to the Council of State in