author
H. G. (Harry Govier) Seeley
1839–1909
A Victorian paleontologist with a gift for bold ideas, he is best remembered for dividing dinosaurs into the two great groups still used today: Saurischia and Ornithischia. His work on fossil reptiles, especially pterosaurs and South African finds, helped shape early vertebrate paleontology.
2 Audiobooks
Dragons of the Air: An Account of Extinct Flying Reptiles
by H. G. (Harry Govier) Seeley
About the author
Born in London on February 18, 1839, Harry Govier Seeley built a scientific career from difficult beginnings. He studied at the Royal School of Mines under Thomas Henry Huxley and went on to become known as an energetic, independent geologist and paleontologist with a special interest in fossil reptiles.
Seeley worked widely on dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and other extinct vertebrates. He taught at King's College London and at Bedford College, and he also served as a professor at the Royal Indian Engineering College, Cooper's Hill. In 1887–1888 he proposed the famous division of dinosaurs into the bird-hipped Ornithischia and lizard-hipped Saurischia, an idea that remains one of his best-known contributions.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1879 and published many studies and books, including work on flying reptiles and fossils from South Africa. Seeley died in London on January 8, 1909, but his name still appears often in the history of paleontology because of the clear, lasting way he helped scientists organize the dinosaur family tree.