Happy Birthday Sir Richard Owen

Sir Richard Owen, English anatomist and palaeontologist was born this day in 1804.  Born in Lancaster, in the north west of England, he rose from relatively humble origins as a university educated surgeon’s apprentice to become one of the most prominent and eminent scientists of the 19th century.

He pioneered the science of vertebrate palaeontology conducting extensive research into extinct mammals, reptiles and birds.  Perhaps he is best remembered for two particular contributions to the world of science.  He coined the phrase “Dinosauria” meaning “Terrible Lizards” or “Fearfully Great Lizards”, hence the term Dinosaur was created.

Sir Richard Owen

A manipulative and resourceful person, Owen was keen to promote himself and his achievements, often to the detriment of his scientific rivals.  The naming of Dinosaurs as a separate and distinct order of reptiles illustrates his scheming.  It has been claimed that when the paper describing the similarities of Megalosaurus and Iguanodon and identifying them as a distinct order of reptiles – the Dinosaurs was published, many were wrongly dated as August 1841 and not April 1842 (the actual date of publication).   As a result Sir Richard Owen was able to claim that he had come to these conclusions much earlier than any of his peers.

Courted by aristocracy and royalty Sir Richard Owen (he was knighted in 1884), rose to the highest echelons in Victorian society and he is regarded as a brilliant anatomist and scientist with perhaps his most important work being the four volume “History of British Fossil Reptiles” first published in 1849.  His second major contribution to popular science was his determination to unite all the various fossil and anatomical collections under one roof.  He was the driving force behind the creation of the British Museum of Natural History (now the Natural History Museum), in South Kensington, London.  This museum opened up science to the public and gave ordinary people access to knowledge, indeed the museum has often been cited as model for the later museums that were to follow in other major cities in the world.  There is some irony to this as Owen based much of his plans for the London museum on the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

Discrediting Fellow Scientists

Although often criticised for his willingness to discredit fellow scientists and there is some evidence to suggest that he wrongly claimed scientific discoveries as his own, Sir Richard was instrumental in developing the science we know today as palaeontology.

Technically, Sir Richard Owen was not the first person to classify dinosaurs as a separate group from the extant reptile orders, The German palaeontologist Hermann von Meyer viewed the dinosaurs as a separate group as early as 1832.  He classified dinosaurs as “Saurians”.  During the early 1830s only a few dinosaurs had been named and described, Owen was able to identify a number of anatomical characteristics that showed that genera such as Megalosaurus and Iguanodon were related.  Although only a few bones and teeth of Megalosaurus had been found, it had been classified as a meat-eating quadruped.

More remains of Iguanodon had been discovered and this animal had been classified as a four-footed herbivore.  The breakthrough came for Owen when he was able to study  a newly discovered Iguanodon sacrum and compare it to a Megalosaurus sacrum that was in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.  The five sacral vertebrae forming the lower part of the spine of these animals were fused in exactly the same way.

It was Owen who grasped the significance of the adaptation, as it would have enabled these animals to carry their huge bulk on land.  This and other anatomical features led Owen to conclude that these animals deserved a distinct classification from other reptiles and this led him to develop the Dinosauria classification.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view models of Megalosaurus and other dinosaurs: Prehistoric Animal Models and Figures.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke 1917-2008

Science fiction writer, futurist and visionary Sir Arthur C. Clarke died in hospital in Sri Lanka today.  Already, a number of tributes have been paid to him by fellow writers, politicians and scientists.  Sir Arthur, who turned 90 just a few weeks ago, passed away at the Apollo hospital, he had been in and out of hospital for several weeks suffering from breathing difficulties.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Born in Minehead, Kent, Sir Arthur made Sri Lanka his adopted home in 1956, he was knighted in 1998.  Clarke, who in 1945 predicted the creation of communication satellites, wrote more than 80 books. He was Sri Lanka’s best-known resident guest and has a scientific academy named after him, as well as an asteroid and a joint European/Russian satellite.

British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, who had worked with Clarke on several writing projects, paid tribute to his “dear friend” and said his death was a “great loss.”

“He was ahead of his time in so many ways,” Moore told the BBC. “Quite apart from artificial satellites there were other things too. A great science fiction writer, a very good scientist, a great prophet and a very dear friend, I’m very, very sad that he’s gone.”

“2001: A Space Odyssey”

Sir Arthur was perhaps best known for his work on the Stanley Kubrick film “2001: A Space Odyssey”.  The story was loosely based on and developed by Sir Arthur and Stanley Kubrick from Clarke’s short story ‘The Sentinel’, first printed in 1951.

A quotation attributed to Stanley Kubrick on the release of the film helps to sum up the life and times of Sir Arthur:

“He (Sir Arthur) has the kind of mind of which the world can never have enough, an array of imagination, intelligence, knowledge and a quirkish curiosity, which often uncovers more than the first three qualities.”

Source: Fiona Harrison/Associated Press

Sir Arthur worked on a ground breaking television series in the early 1980s.  It was called “Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World”.  This thirteen part series covered the paranormal and explored strange mysterious such as UFOs, monsters of the deep, apeman and other phenomenon.  In one of the later episodes (episode 11), entitled “Dragons, Dinosaurs and Giant Snakes” – Sir Arthur explored the then, current myths and stories about unknown animals lurking in explored parts of the world.

Exploring Myths and Legends

Each programme was written in a documentary style with an introduction and conclusion filmed with the great man from his residence in Sri Lanka.  An earlier episode had focused on the strange stories from around the world of lake monsters such as Nessie and Champ.  A book was published in 1981 to accompany the series.

To read more about Sir Arthur: Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s 90th Birthday.

Sir Arthur’s enquiring mind and curiosity was an inspiration to many scientists and writers, he will be sadly missed, perhaps it is fitting to finish with a brief quotation from the man himself, it pointedly sums up why many people are inspired to become palaeontologists:

“The truth as always will be far stranger”.

Happy Birthday to Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Today, (December 16th) marks the 90th birthday of Sir Arthur C. (stands for Charles); Clarke – author, scientist and thinker.  Perhaps Sir Arthur is best known for his ground breaking novel “2001 – A Space Odyssey”, which was later made into a film of the same name directed by Stanley Kubrick.  To many palaeontologists and other scientists, Sir Arthur acted as an inspirational figure.   In 1980; an ITV television series “Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World” was aired.  This thirteen part series covered the paranormal and explored strange mysterious such as UFOs, monsters of the deep, apeman and other phenomenon.  In one of the later episodes (episode 11), entitled “Dragons, Dinosaurs and Giant Snakes” – Sir Arthur explored the then, current myths and stories about unknown animals lurking in explored parts of the world.

Each programme was written in a documentary style with an introduction and conclusion filmed with the great man from his residence in Sri Lanka.  An earlier episode had focused on the strange stories from around the world of lake monsters such as Nessie and Champ.  A book was published in 1981 to accompany the series.

Quick Correction

The film 2001: A Space Odyssey was loosely based on and developed by Sir Arthur & Mr Stanley Kubrick from Clarke’s short story ‘The Sentinel’, first published in 1951 and much-reprinted. The novel of 2001 was first published in 1968 to accompany the film’s release, based on the screenplay.  Our thanks to Epacris for this information.

Sir Arthur’s rational approach helped de-bunk some of the more outlandish stories but in his concluding commentary on episode 11, comments, which can be found in the book that accompanied the series, he tells a strange story from his childhood.  His mother once claimed to have seen strange sheep with five horns in a neighbour’s field.  Young Arthur dismissed this sighting stating that she must have been mistaken.  Off they went on their bikes to see for themselves and sure enough in the field just as his mother had stated was a small flock of strange curly horned sheep the like of which he had never seen.

It may be relatively easy to dismiss strange stories of sea monsters like pliosaurs, or plesiosaurs roaming remote parts of the world’s oceans.  Claims of a sighting of a long-necked dinosaur in the inhospitable marshlands and rain-forests of the Congo may seem unlikely but as Sir Arthur famously commented:

“The truth as always will be far stranger”.

You never know…

Happy Birthday Sir Arthur.