Name:
Born/Died:
Nationality:
Dinosaurs Named:
About Richard Owen:
Richard Owen wasn't a fossil hunter, but a comparative anatomist--and he was far from the most likeable person in the history of paleontology. Throughout his long career, Owen had a tendency to dismiss or ignore the contributions of other scientists, preferring to claim all the credit for himself. This was even the case with his most famous contribution to paleontology, his invention of the word "dinosaur" ("terrible lizard"), which was inspired in part by the discovery of Iguanodon by Gideon Mantell (who later said of Owen that it was "a pity a man so talented should be so dastardly and envious.")
As he became increasingly prominent in paleontological circles, Owen's treatment of Mantell became even more mean-spirited. He renamed (and took credit for discovering) some of the dinosaur fossils Mantell had found, he prevented many of Mantell's posthumous research papers from ever being published, and he was even widely believed to have written a scornful obituary of Mantell upon the latter's death in 1852. The same pattern repeated itself (with less success on Owen's part) with Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution Owen mistrusted and was probably envious of.
