Rudolf Erich Raspe

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Rudolf Erich Raspe (1736–1794) was a German librarian, writer, and scientist best known for his novel The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen. In 1769 he was elected to the Royal Society after publishing a paper on the bones and teeth of elephants and other animals found in North America. In 1775 he fled to Holland and England to avoid arrest on charges of thievery. In 1791 he had to flee again under suspicion of swindling his employer. He settled in Ireland, where he died of a fever in Muckross, County Kerry.