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Sir Richard Owen
Sir Richard Owen (1804-1892) was an English paleontologist, biologist,
and comparative anatomist
Portrait of Sir Richard Owen
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English School
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- He is perhaps best known for having coined
the term "dinosaur" (or actually "dinosauria") in 1842 - it
means "terrible reptile".
- Owen created, in conjunction with Benjamin
Waterhouse Hawkins, the first full-size dinosaur reconstructions.
These were originally produced for the Great Exhibition of 1851
and displayed
in Crystal Palace, London,
with a total of 33 models eventually produced.
Perhaps the most famous story about these models, is that Owen hosted a dinner for 21 prominent men of
science inside the model of
Iguanodon
New Year's Eve,
1853.
The surviving models
are today located in
Dinosaur Court
in the Crystal Palace area of South
London.
- Owen was perhaps the person most directly responsible for the foundation of the
British Museum (Natural History)
in South Kensington,
London,
England,
which is today of course known as the
"Natural History Museum".
The Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London, England, UK
Photographic Print
Mawson, Mark
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Owen was born on
July 20th
n 1804, in Lancaster,
England.
He was educated in Lancaster Royal Grammar School,
the University of
Edinburgh,
and in
St Bartholomew's Hospital
London.
Although Owen considered a career as a surgeon, he was in fact more interest
in anatomical research. He eventually accepted a position as
assistant to the conservator of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons,
and abandoned medical practice.
In 1836, Owen was appointed as a Hunterian professor of the Royal College of Surgeons,
in 1849, he became the
conservator of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons,
and then in 1856, he became superintendent of the natural history department
of the
British Museum.
His work with the
British Museum
including creating a new Natural History building in
South Kensington
(today the Natural History Museum),
and in 1884 he was knighted.
Owen retired, and died in 1892 in Sheen Lodge,
Richmond Park,
South
London.
Sir Richard Owen Poses Beside the Skeleton of a Moa
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During his career, Owen wrote numerous scientific papers, including anatomic descriptions
of many animals, including both vertebrates and invertebrates, and both extant and extinct
(fossil) animals.
He was even granted right of first refusal of any animal carcasses from
London Zoo,
and, as result, according to legend, his wife once returned home to
find a dead rhinoceros in the hallway of their house.
Although Owen recognized many similarities between different animals,
Owen took them as evidence of "archetypes" in god's mind, rather than
as evidence of common descent.
After
Charles Darwin
published "On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection ,"† in 1859, Owen, in his position with the
British Museum,
received many letters (pro-, anti- and inquiries) concerning the book, and initially avoiding expressing a view,
but rather argued in favor of a new Natural History Museum.
However, in 1860, an anonymously bylined review of
"On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection ,"† ,
written by Richard Owen, appeared in the Edinburgh Review, and Owen gradually
became engaged in a fierce and bitter dispute with
Darwin's followers,
especially T. H. Huxley.
Nevertheless, a fossil of
one of the transitional animals
(Archaeopteryx) predicted by
Charles Darwin was bought by
Owen for the
British Museum
in 1863 (although Owen described it as simply a bird, rather than a proto-bird or
transitional form).
Aside from the controversies over evolution and Natural Selection,
Owen was also involved in a number of other
controversies and disputes during his career.
Although he began on friendly terms with Owen,
Darwin
himself wrote
"I used to be ashamed of hating him so much, but now I will carefully cherish my hatred and contempt to the last days of my life".

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By Richard Owen
General Books LLC Paperback (26 pages)
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Click Here | Product Description: This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Geology; Extinct animals; Juvenile Nonfiction / Animals / Dinosaurs |
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By Barbara Kerley
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Click Here | Product Description: Until the mid-1800s, no-one really knew what a dinosaur was - let alone what one looked like. So when Victorian artist Waterhouse Hawkins built the first life-size models he dazzled the world with his awe-inspiring creations. For ages 6+. |
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By Ken Ham
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By DK Publishing
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Against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution, an extraordinary circle of fossilists struggled to make sense of a mysterious, prehistoric world--a world they had to piece together from the fossilized and often fragmentary remains of animals never before seen. In this transporting, seamlessly written book, Christopher McGowan takes us back to a time when geology and paleontology were as young and vibrant as genetic engineering is today. The nineteenth-century pioneers of these new disciplines were an eccentric lot, from different social classes and sexes, with a range of motivations in fossil hunting. These "Dragon Seekers" sought to persuade a populace raised on a literal interpretation of Genesis that the ground they walked was once a very frightening and unfamiliar place. A sweeping narrative history, The Dragon Seekers shows how these remarkable characters forever changed our interpretation of the world and its inhabitants. |
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By Sharon Siamon
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Armored dinosaurs were some of the earliest dinosaurs named, including the ankylosaur Hylaeosaurus in 1833 and Stegosaurus in 1877. But these armored dinosaurs, or thyreophorans, have been the least studied group because they lack the visceral appeal of Tyrannosaurus and the fossil abundance of ceratopsians and hadrosaurs. The incredible diversity of armored dinosaurs has only recently been appreciated: the discovery of new stegosaurs in the Jurassic of China and the United States, and of new ankylosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous of North America have led to renewed interest in thyreophorans. The Armored Dinosaurs brings together the latest studies by an international group of dinosaur paleontologists and provides descriptions of the original specimens of Hyaleosaurus and Stegosaurus, names new thyreophorans, and redescribes historically important specimens from Europe. The contributors are Paul M. Barrett, John Bird, William T. Blows, Don Burge, Kenneth Carpenter, H. Trevor Clifford, Karen Cloward, Margery C. Coombs, Rodolfo A. Corio, Philip J. Currie, Tracy L. Ford, Peter M. Galton, Robert W. Gaston, James I. Kirkland, Martin G. Lockley, Richard T. McCrea, Lorrie A. McWhinney, Christian A. Meyer, Clifford A. Miles, Ralph E. Molnar, David B. Norman, Paul Penkalski, Xabier Pereda Suberbiola, Bruce M. Rothschild, A. P. Russell, N. Rybczynski, Leonardo Salgado, Jennifer Schellenbach, and M. K. Vickaryous. |
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