Baron Charles Athanase Walckenaer (25 December 1771 – 28 April 1852) was a French

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

and scientist.

Biography

Walckenaer was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and studied at the universities of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. In 1793 he was appointed head of the military transports in the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

, after which he pursued technical studies at the

École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

and the

École polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

. He was elected member of the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute m ...

in 1813, was

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

(''maire'') in the 5th arrondissement in Paris and secretary-general of the prefect of the

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributarie ...

1816–1825. He was made a

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

in 1823. In 1839 he was appointed conservator for the Department of Maps at the Royal Library in Paris and in 1840 secretary for life in the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

. He was one of the founders of the

Société entomologique de France The Société entomologique de France, or French Entomological Society, is devoted to the study of insects. The society was founded in 1832 in Paris, France. The society was created by eighteen Parisian entomologists on January 31, 1832. The first ...

in 1832, and a "resident member" of the

Société des observateurs de l'homme Société des observateurs de l'homme, rendered in English as Society of Observers of Man, was a French learned society founded in Paris in 1799. Long considered the birthplace of French anthropology, the society nevertheless dissolved in 1804. ...

. Walckenaer introduced the full biography according to the English model into

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...

through his works '' Histoire de la vie et des ouvrages de la Fontaine'' (1820, 4th ed. 1858), ''

Histoire de la vie et des poésies d'Horace Histoire (French for 'story' or 'history') may refer to: * Histoire TV, a French television channel * Historia (TV channel), or Canal Histoire, a Canadian television channel * ''L'Histoire'', a French magazine * , a 1967 novel by Claude Simon Se ...

'' (1840; new ed. 1858) and '' Mémoires touchent la vie et les écrits de Mme de Sevigné'' (6 volumes, 1842–1865). In the works of La Bruyère, which he published in 1845, he returned to the original text. In the area of geography, he discovered the

map of Juan de la Cosa The map of Juan de la Cosa is a world map that includes the earliest known representation of the New World and the first depiction of the equator and the Tropic of Cancer on a nautical chart. The map is attributed to the Castilian navigator and ...

, the oldest extant map that shows the American continent, and published '' La monde maritime'' (4 vols., 1818), '' Histoire générale des voyages'' (21 vols., 1826–1831) and '' Géographie ancienne, historique et comparée des Gaules'' (3 vols., 1839, new ed. 1862). He was also an

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

and

arachnologist Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, and harvestmen. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly, the study of sp ...

who published, among other things, the '' Histoire naturelle des insectes'' (4 vols., 1836–1847) together with

Paul Gervais Paul Gervais full name François Louis Paul Gervais (26 September 1816 – 10 February 1879) was a French palaeontologist and entomologist. Biography Gervais was born in Paris, where he obtained the diplomas of doctor of science and of medicine ...

. He was also the scientist who transferred the black widow to its current genus and discovered multiple species of ''

Cyclosa ''Cyclosa'', also called trashline orbweavers, is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first described by Anton Menge in 1866. Widely distributed worldwide, spiders of the genus ''Cyclosa'' build relatively small orb webs with a web decoration. The we ...

'', including '' C. turbinata''.

External links

Google Books
Digital Version of Apteres ''Histoire naturelle des insectes'' * *Spider Drawings by John Abbo

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walckenaer, Charles Athanase 1771 births 1852 deaths French entomologists French arachnologists 18th-century French civil servants Barons Walckenaer École Polytechnique alumni Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 19th-century French civil servants Presidents of the Société entomologique de France 18th-century French zoologists 19th-century French zoologists Scientists from Paris Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of the University of Glasgow