Happy Birthday Gideon Mantell

Today, February 3rd, marks the birthday of Gideon Algernon Mantell, an English doctor, avid fossil collector and amateur geologist who made a considerable contribution to the early science of palaeontology.

Gideon Algernon Mantell

Born on the 3rd of February in 1790, he was responsible for naming and describing two of the three dinosaurs that made up the Order Dinosauria as proposed by Sir Richard Owen. 

An illustration of the Hylaeosaurus

Gideon Mantell’s important contribution to palaeontology.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

These dinosaurs were Iguanodon and the armoured dinosaur Hylaeosaurus.  Despised by Sir Richard Owen, Mantell’s contribution to the nascent science of palaeontology is today, regarded as very significant by academics and enthusiasts alike.  We suspect that there will be little media coverage of this, but for us Gideon Mantell was a pioneer of palaeontology and his contribution will never be forgotten.

Remembering Gideon Mantell and Iguanodon

A typical iguanodontid dinosaur. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The model above is a CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Popular Iguanodon model, to view this range: CollectA Prehistoric Life Popular Figures.

Happy Birthday Gideon Mantell.