Owen, Richard, Sir

Sir Richard Owen was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist. Owen produced a vast array of scientific work, but is probably best remembered for coining the word Dinosauria, meaning terrible reptile or fearfully great reptile. An outspoken critic of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, Owen agreed with Darwin that evolution occurred, but thought it was more complex than outlined in Darwin's On the Origin of the Species. Owen was the first President of the Microscopical Society of London in 1839 and edited many issues of its journal, The Microscopic Journal. Owen also campaigned for the natural specimens in the British Museum to be given a new home. This resulted in the establishment, in 1881, of the Natural History Museum in South Kensington.