  adelbert von chamisso (30 january 1781 â 21 august 1838) was a german poet and botanist. he wrote peter schlemihl, a famous story about a man who sold his shadow. == life == he was born louis charles adÃ©laÃ¯de de chamissot at the chÃ¢teau of boncourt at ante, in champagne, france, the ancestral seat of his family. his name appears in several forms, one of the most common being ludolf karl adelbert von chamisso.rodolfo e.g. pichi sermolli. 1996. authors of scientific names in pteridophyta. royal botanic gardens, kew. isbn 978-0-947643-90-4 driven out by the french revolution, his parents settled in berlin, where in 1796 young chamisso obtained the post of page-in-waiting to the queen, and in 1798 entered a prussian infantry regiment as ensign. thumb|his tomb in berlin shortly thereafter, upon the peace of tilsit, his family was permitted to return to france; he remained in germany and continued his military career. he had little education, and while in the prussian military service in berlin assiduously studied natural science for three years. in collaboration with varnhagen von ense, he founded (1803) the berliner musenalmanach, in which his first verses appeared. the enterprise was a failure, and, interrupted by the war, 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. he had become lieutenant in 1801, and in 1805 accompanied his regiment to hameln, where he shared in the humiliation of its treasonable capitulation in the following 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 service early the following year. homeless and without a profession, disillusioned and despondent, he lived in berlin until 1810, when, through the services of an old friend of 
1781_births 1838_deaths Botanists_active_in_North_America Botanists_active_in_the_Pacific Botanists_with_author_abbreviations Bryologists FranzAPsisches_Gymnasium_Berlin_alumni French_untitled_nobility German_botanists German_people_of_French_descent German_poets German_untitled_nobility People_from_Marne Phycologists Prussian_Army_personnel_of_the_Napoleonic_Wars Pteridologists