Richard Owen

Born in Lancaster, England, on July 20, 1804, Richard Owen trained in medicine before becoming one of the 19th century’s most influential anatomists and natural historians. He built his reputation through meticulous work on comparative anatomy and fossil animals, and he became especially famous for introducing the term Dinosauria for a group of extinct reptiles.

Owen worked at the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons and later played a major part in the creation of London’s Natural History Museum. He wrote widely on vertebrate anatomy, paleontology, and classification, and his research helped Victorian readers imagine prehistoric life in vivid new ways.

He was also a complicated figure. Admired for his scientific skill and public influence, he was criticized by some contemporaries for professional rivalry and disputes over credit. Even so, his impact was enormous, and he remains a central figure in the history of paleontology and museum science.