View source for Adelbert von Chamisso

{{Short description|German poet and botanist (1781–1838)}}
{{redirect|Cham.|other uses|Cham (disambiguation){{!}}Cham}}
{{multiple issues|{{lead too short|date=August 2012}}
{{more citations needed|date=August 2012}}}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name          =Adelbert von Chamisso
|image         =Chamisso Adelbert von 1781-1838.png
|caption       =Portrait, 1831
|birth_name    =Louis Charles Adélaïde de Chamissot
|birth_date    ={{Birth date|1781|01|30|df=yes}}
|birth_place   =[[Sivry-Ante|Ante]], [[Champagne (historical province)|Champagne]], [[Kingdom of France]]
|death_date    ={{Death date and age|1838|08|21|1781|01|30|df=yes}}
|death_place   =[[Berlin]], [[Province of Brandenburg]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]]
|occupation    =Poet and botanist
|known_for     = ''[[Peter Schlemihl]], the man who sold his shadow'', ''Views and Remarks on a Voyage of Discovery'', ''Description of a Voyage Round the World'', description of many trees of Mexico
|nationality   =<!--Deprecated per MOS:INFONAT-->
|citizenship   = Prussia
|author_abbrev_bot = '''Cham.'''
|education     =
|alma_mater    =
|period        =
|spouse        = Antonie Piaste
|children      =
|father        = Louis Marie, Count of Chamisso | mother = Anne Marie Gargam
|relatives     =
|influences    =
|influenced    =
|awards        =[[Prussian Academy of Sciences]]
}}
'''Adelbert von Chamisso''' ({{IPA|de|ˈaːdl̩bɛʁt fɔn ʃaˈmɪso}}; 30 January 1781 – 21 August 1838) was a German [[poet]], writer and [[botanist]]. He was commonly known in French as '''Adelbert de Chamisso''' (or '''Chamissot''') '''de Boncourt''', a name referring to the family estate at [[Boncourt, Aisne|Boncourt]].

== Life ==
The son of Louis Marie, Count of [[:de:Chamisso (Adelsgeschlecht)|Chamisso]], by his marriage to Anne Marie Gargam, Chamisso began life as Louis Charles Adélaïde de Chamissot at the ''[[château]]'' of [[Boncourt, Aisne|Boncourt]] at [[Sivry-Ante|Ante]], in [[Champagne (historical province)|Champagne]], France, the ancestral seat of his family.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Chamisso, Adelbert von|volume=5|pages=825–826}}</ref>  His name appears in several forms, one of the most common being ''Ludolf Karl Adelbert von Chamisso.''<ref name="pichi-sermolli1996">Rodolfo E.G. Pichi Sermolli. 1996. ''Authors of Scientific Names in Pteridophyta''. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. {{ISBN|978-0-947643-90-4}}</ref>

In 1790, the [[French Revolution]] drove his parents out of France with their seven children, and they went successively to [[Liège]], [[the Hague]], [[Würzburg]], and [[Bayreuth]], and possibly [[Hamburg]],<!--where he reportedly met both a younger boy in [[Johann August Wilhelm Neander]] and another younger boy in [[Karl August Varnhagen von Ense]]--> before settling in [[Berlin]]. There, in 1796, the young Chamisso was fortunate in obtaining the post of page-in-waiting to the queen of [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], and in 1798 he entered a Prussian infantry regiment as an [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]] to train for a career as an army officer.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

[[File:Chamisso-tomb.JPG|thumb|Chamisso's tomb in Berlin]]
Shortly thereafter, thanks to the [[Peace of Tilsit]], his family was able to return to France, but Chamisso remained in Prussia and continued his military career. He had little formal education, although he is a noted alumnus of the French Highschool of Berlin ([[Französisches Gymnasium Berlin|Französisches Gymnasium]]), that has existed since 1689 for the express purpose of accommodating the children of exiled French nobles. While in the [[Prussia]]n military service in [[Berlin]] he assiduously studied [[natural science]] for three years. In collaboration with [[Karl August Varnhagen von Ense|Varnhagen von Ense]], in 1803 he founded the ''Berliner Musenalmanach'', the publication in which his first verses appeared. The enterprise was a failure, and, interrupted by the Napoleonic wars, it came to an end in 1806. It brought him, however, to the notice of many of the literary celebrities of the day and established his reputation as a rising poet.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Chamisso had become a lieutenant in 1801, and in 1805 he accompanied his regiment to [[Hamelin]], where he shared in the humiliation of the town's capitulation the next year. Placed on [[parole]], he went to France, but both his parents were dead; returning to Berlin in the autumn of 1807, he obtained his release from the Prussian service early the following year. Homeless and without a profession, disillusioned and despondent, Chamisso lived in Berlin until 1810, when through the services of an old friend of the family he was offered a professorship at the ''lycée'' at [[Napoléonville]] in the [[Vendée]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

He set out to take up the post, but instead joined the circle of [[Madame de Staël]], and followed her in her [[exile]] to [[Coppet]] in [[Switzerland]], where, devoting himself to [[botany|botanical research]], he remained nearly two years. In 1812 he returned to Berlin, where he continued his scientific studies. In the summer of the eventful year, 1813, he wrote the prose narrative ''[[Peter Schlemihl]], the man who sold his shadow''. This, the most famous of all his works, has been translated into most [[Europe]]an languages ([[English language|English]] by [[William Howitt]]). It was written partly to divert his own thoughts and partly to amuse the children of his friend [[Julius Eduard Hitzig]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1815, Chamisso was appointed botanist to the [[Russia]]n ship ''[[Rurik expedition|Rurik]]'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Daum |first=Andreas W.|authorlink=Andreas Daum |editor-last=Berghoff |editor-first=Hartmut |title=Explorations and Entanglements: Germans in Pacific Worlds from the Early Modern Period to World War I |publisher=Berghahn Books |date=2019 |pages=79–102 |chapter=German Naturalists in the Pacific around 1800: Entanglement, Autonomy, and a Transnational Culture of Expertise }}</ref> fitted out at the expense of Count [[Nikolay Rumyantsev]], which [[Otto von Kotzebue]] (son of [[August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue|August von Kotzebue]]) commanded on a scientific voyage round the world.<ref name="EB1911"/> He collected at the [[Cape of Good Hope]] in January 1818 in the company of [[Georg Ludwig Engelhard Krebs|Krebs]], [[Mund and Maire]].<ref>''"Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa"'' - Gunn & Codd (1981)</ref> His [[diary]] of the expedition (''Tagebuch'', 1821) is a fascinating account of the expedition to the [[Pacific Ocean]] and the [[Bering Sea]]. During this trip Chamisso described a number of new species found in what is now the San Francisco Bay Area. Several of these, including the [[California poppy]], ''Eschscholzia californica'', were named after his friend [[Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz]], the Rurik's [[entomology|entomologist]]. In return, Eschscholtz named a variety of plants, including the genus ''[[Camissonia]]'', after Chamisso. On his return in 1818 he was made custodian of the botanical gardens in Berlin, and was elected a member of the [[Prussian Academy of Sciences|Academy of Sciences]], and in 1819 he married his friend Hitzig's foster daughter Antonie Piaste (1800–1837). He became a leading member of [[the Serapion Brethren]], a literary circle around E. T. A. Hoffmann.

In 1827, partly for the purpose of rebutting the charges brought against him by Kotzebue, he published ''Views and Remarks on a Voyage of Discovery'', and ''Description of a Voyage Round the World''. Both works display great accuracy and industry. His last scientific labor was a tract on the [[Hawaiian language]]. Chamisso's travels and scientific researches restrained for a while the full development of his poetical talent, and it was not until his forty-eighth year that he turned back to literature. In 1829, in collaboration with [[Gustav Schwab]], and from 1832 in conjunction with [[Franz von Gaudy]], he brought out the ''Deutscher Musenalmanach'', in which his later poems were mainly published.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Chamisso died in Berlin at the age of 57. His grave is preserved in the [[Protestant]] ''Friedhof III'' (Cemetery No. 3 of the congregations of [[Jerusalem's Church]] and the [[Deutscher Dom|New Church]]) in [[Kreuzberg|Berlin-Kreuzberg]], to the south of the [[Hallesches Tor (Berlin U-Bahn)|Hallesches Tor]].

Chamisso collected numerous zoological and botanical specimens as well as occasional human bones.<ref>[[Matthias Glaubrecht]], [[Nils Seethaler]], Barbara Teßmann, & Katrin Koel-Abt, 2013. The potential of biohistory: Re-discovering Adelbert von Chamisso’s skull of an Aleut collected during the “Rurik” Expedition 1815–1818, in: ''Alaska. Zoosystematics and Evolution'' 89 (2): 317–336.</ref> His collections are in the care of a number of European museums. Some of his fungal specimens were distributed by [[Johann Friedrich Klotzsch]] in his highly influential [[exsiccata]] ''Herbarium vivum mycologicum sistens fungorum per totam Germaniam crescentium collectionem perfectam'' (1832).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Herbarium vivum mycologicum sistens fungorum per totam Germaniam crescentium collectionem perfectam: IndExs ExsiccataID=187883913 |website=IndExs - Index of Exsiccatae |publisher=Botanische Staatssammlung München |url=http://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=187883913 |access-date=28 June 2025}}</ref>

== Botanical work ==
[[File:Mojave suncup flower at the mouth of Titus Canyon.JPG|thumb|right|250px|The pictured Mojave suncup, ''[[Camissonia brevipes]]'', is an example of a genus named for the poet-botanist.]]

Chamisso is chiefly remembered for his work as a botanist; his most important contribution, done in conjunction with [[Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal]], was the description of many of the most important [[tree]]s of [[Mexico]] in 1830–1831. Also, his ''Bemerkungen und Ansichten'', published in an incomplete form in Kotzebue's ''Entdeckungsreise'' (Weimar, 1821) and more completely in Chamisso's Collected Works (1836), and the botanical work, ''Übersicht der nutzbarsten und schädlichsten Gewächse in Norddeutschland'' (Review of the Most Useful and the Most Noxious Plants of North Germany, with Remarks on Scientific Botany), of 1829, are esteemed for their careful treatment of their subjects.<ref name="EB1911"/> In 1824 he became a member of the [[Regensburg Botanical Society]].<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history">{{cite web |title=History |url=http://rbg1790.de/verein.html#geschichte |website=Regensburg Botanical Society |access-date=6 October 2022}}</ref>

The genera ''[[Chamissoa]]'' [[Kunth]] ([[Amaranthaceae]]) and ''[[Camissonia]]'' [[Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link|Link]] ([[Onagraceae]]) and many species were named in his honor.<ref>{{cite book|last = Brummitt|first = R. K.|author2 = C. E. Powell|title = Authors of Plant Names |publisher = [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]] |year = 1992 |isbn = 978-1-84246-085-6}}</ref>
{{botanist|Cham.|Chamisso, Adelbert von|border=0}}

== Belles-lettres ==
Chamisso's earliest writings, which include a verse translation of the tragedy ''Le Comte de Comminge'' in which "heilsam" is used in place of "heilig", show a 20-year-old still struggling to master his new language, and a number of his early poems are in French. Between 1801 and 1804 he became closely associated with other writers and edited their journal.

As a poet Chamisso's reputation stands high. ''[[Frauenliebe und -leben]]'' (1830), a cycle of lyrical poems which was set to music by [[Robert Schumann]], by [[Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe|Carl Loewe]], and by [[Franz Paul Lachner]], is particularly famous. Composers such as [[Pauline Volkstein]] also used Chamisso’s texts in their compositions. Also noteworthy are ''Schloss Boncourt'' and ''Salas y Gomez''. He often deals with gloomy or repulsive subjects; and even in his lighter and more cheery productions there is an undertone of sadness or of [[satire]]. In the lyrical expression of the domestic emotions he displays a fine felicity, and he knew how to treat with true feeling a tale of love or vengeance. ''Die Löwenbraut'' may be taken as a sample of his weird and powerful simplicity; and ''Vergeltung'' is remarkable for a pitiless precision of treatment. The first collected edition of Chamisso's works was edited by Hitzig and published in six volumes in 1836.<ref name="EB1911"/>

== Legacy ==
Otto von Kotzebue named [[Chamisso Island]] after him.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chuckchi Sea Unit, AMNWR |url=http://alaskamaritime.fws.gov/units/ChukchiMAIN.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720030755/http://alaskamaritime.fws.gov/units/ChukchiMAIN.htm |archive-date=July 20, 2011}}</ref> Chamisso is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Chilean snake, ''[[Philodryas chamissonis]]''.<ref>[[species:Bo Beolens|Beolens, Bo]]; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Chamisso", p. 51).</ref>

== Literary work ==
He is the author of the famous story, ''[[Peter Schlemihl]]'', about a man who sold his shadow, and is the poet of the short poem "Tragic Story" which tells about a wise monk without the benefit of common sense who tries to change the direction of his pigtail.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Adelbert |first1=von Chamisson |last2=William |first2=Makepeace Thackeray |title=Tragic Story |url=https://poets.org/poem/tragic-story |website=poets.org }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{portal|Poetry}}
* [[Adelbert-von-Chamisso-Award]]
* [[Chamisso Island]]
* [[European and American voyages of scientific exploration]]
* [[List of plants of Caatinga vegetation of Brazil]]
* [[List of plants of Cerrado vegetation of Brazil]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{cite Efron|Шамиссо, Альберт}}
*{{Cite book |last=Beidleman |first=Richard G. |url=https://archive.org/details/californiasfront0000beid |title=California's Frontier Naturalists |date=2006 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-92750-6 |location=Berkeley |pages=48–70}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Garland |first1=Mary |title=The Oxford companion to German literature |last2=Garland |first2=Henry B. |date=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-815896-7 |edition=3rd |location=Oxford}}
*{{Cite journal |last=Mornin |first=Edward |date=1999 |title=Adelbert Von Chamisso: A German Poet-Naturalist and His Visit to California |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25462523 |journal=California History |volume=78 |issue=1 |pages=2–13 |doi=10.2307/25462523 |jstor=25462523 |issn=0162-2897|url-access=subscription }}
*{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Chamisso, Adelbert de}}
*{{Cite journal |last=Sterling |first=Paul Gary |date=2011 |title=The Voyage of the Rurik: An Historic 1816 Russian Voyage to San Francisco Bay |url=https://archive.org/details/argonaut222unse |journal=The Argonaut |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=6–35}}

== External links ==
{{commons}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{Wikispecies}}
* {{gutenberg author| id=1779| name=Adelbert von Chamisso}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Adelbert von Chamisso}}
* {{Librivox author |id=4909}}
* [http://www.michaelhaldane.com/Translations.htm ''The Wonderful History of Peter Schlemihl''], 2005 translation by Michael Haldane
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=0KYPAAAAQAAJ&q=chamisso&pg=PA16 Biographical sketch (1893)] at Google Books
* [http://medusozoa.com/chamisso.html Hall of Fame-Medusozoa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209125603/http://medusozoa.com/chamisso.html |date=2012-02-09 }}
*[https://books.google.com/books/download/Enumeratio_filicum_quas_in_itinere_circa.pdf?id=IcVXAAAAMAAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U1UZPdcPTRMVwVBtUT-dePE9V42Cw&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 Georg Friedrich Kaulfuss and Adelbert von Chamisso: ''Enumeratio filicum quas in itinere circa terram legit cl. Adalbertus de Chamisso etc. 1824'', on GoogleBooks]
* [http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Chamisso,+Adelbert+von Biography and works on Zeno]
* {{ISFDB name|122107}}
* {{LCAuth|n80049626|Adelbert von Chamisso|106|ue}}

{{German literature}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamisso, Adelbert Von}}
[[Category:Adelbert von Chamisso| ]]
[[Category:German bryologists]]
[[Category:German phycologists]]
[[Category:German pteridologists]]
[[Category:1781 births]]
[[Category:1838 deaths]]
[[Category:Botanists active in the Pacific]]
[[Category:Botanists active in North America]]
[[Category:Botanists active in California]]
[[Category:Botanists with author abbreviations]]
[[Category:18th-century German poets]]
[[Category:German male poets]]
[[Category:German untitled nobility]]
[[Category:French untitled nobility]]
[[Category:Französisches Gymnasium Berlin alumni]]
[[Category:German people of French descent]]
[[Category:People from Marne (department)]]
[[Category:Prussian Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:19th-century German writers]]
[[Category:19th-century German male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century German botanists]]
[[Category:Coppet group]]
[[Category:19th-century German nobility]]