Baron Charles Athanase Walckenaer (25 December 1771 – 28 April 1852) was a French civil servant, writer, man of letters, and scientist.

Walckenaer was born in Paris and after losing his parents at an early age he was raised by his uncle Charles-Nicolas Duclos Dufresnoy, a notary in the court of Louis XVI.

His uncle's elite and educated circle made an impression on the young boy and he was sent to study at the universities of Oxford and Glasgow.

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.

In the area of geography, he discovered the map of Juan de la Cosa, 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.