author
H. G. (Harry Govier) Seeley
1839–1909
Best known for splitting dinosaurs into the two great groups Saurischia and Ornithischia, this Victorian paleontologist helped shape how prehistoric life is still described today. He was also a prolific writer and teacher whose work ranged beyond dinosaurs to pterosaurs, geology, and fossil reptiles.
2 Audiobooks
Dragons of the Air: An Account of Extinct Flying Reptiles
by H. G. (Harry Govier) Seeley
About the author
Born in London in 1839, Harry Govier Seeley became one of Britain's important 19th-century paleontologists. He studied in Cambridge, worked with the geologist Adam Sedgwick at the Woodwardian Museum, and built a career through research, lecturing, and writing.
Seeley is remembered above all for proposing, in 1887, the division of dinosaurs into Saurischia and Ornithischia based on the structure of the pelvis. That classification became one of the most influential ideas in dinosaur science. He also did major work on pterosaurs and other fossil reptiles, and published a long list of books and papers for both specialists and general readers.
His life was not confined to academic institutions alone: much of his work was carried out through independent scholarship, teaching, and literary effort. He died in 1909, but his name remains closely tied to the early growth of vertebrate paleontology and to one of the basic frameworks still used in discussing dinosaurs.