Richard Owen (20, July 1804- 18 December 1892). 1883 portrait in his home study for The Graphic magazine. The year he retired from the BMNH. Owen was


Richard Owen (20, July 1804- 18 December 1892). 1883 portrait in his home study for The Graphic magazine. The year he retired from the BMNH. Owen was a comparative anatomist and palaeontologist who became one of the most famous and politically influential biologists of the Victorian era. His achievements included coining the word Dinosauria (1842), and establishing the new British Museum of Natural History at South Kensington in 1881. He worked hard and wrote prolifically, but his scientific legacy is limited. Partly this is because of his reluctance to theorize, and partly it is because of his antagonism towards those who advocated evolution by natural selection (Huxley's view on the human brain in particular). Owen's reputation was damaged by his unwillingness to accept criticism, and a tendency to ruthlessly manoeuvre to take credit for discoveries. He was knighted in 1894.


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Photo credit: © PAUL D STEWART/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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