Richard Owen

Sir Richard Owen (July 20, 1804 - December 18, 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist.

Early life and career

Owen was born in Lancaster and educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School. In 1820 he was apprenticed to a local surgeon and apothecary, and in 1824 he proceeded as a medical student to the university of Edinburgh. He left the university in the following year, and completed his medical course in St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, where he came under the influence of the eminent surgeon, John Abernethy.

Related Topics:
Lancaster - Lancaster Royal Grammar School - 1820 - Surgeon - Apothecary - 1824 - University of Edinburgh - St Bartholomew's Hospital - London - John Abernethy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He then contemplated the usual professional career; but his bent was evidently in the direction of anatomical research, and he was induced by Abernethy to accept the position of assistant to William Clift, conservator of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. This congenial occupation soon led him to abandon his intention of medical practice, and his life henceforth was devoted to purely scientific labours. He prepared an important series of catalogues of the Hunterian collection in the Royal College of Surgeons; and in the course of this work he acquired the unrivalled knowledge of comparative anatomy which enabled him to enrich all departments of the science, and specially facilitated his researches on the remains of extinct animals. In 1836 he was appointed Hunterian professor in the Royal College of Surgeons, and in 1849 he succeeded Clift as conservator. He held the latter office until 1856, when he became superintendent of the natural history department of the British Museum. He then devoted much of his energies to a great scheme for a National Museum of Natural History, which eventually resulted in the removal of the natural history collections of the British Museum to a new building at South Kensington, the British Museum (Natural History). He retained office until the completion of this work in 1884, when he received the distinction of K.C.B., and thenceforward lived quietly in retirement at Sheen Lodge, Richmond Park, until his death.

Related Topics:
William Clift - Royal College of Surgeons - Extinct animal - 1836 - 1849 - 1856 - British Museum - Kensington - British Museum (Natural History) - 1884 - Richmond Park

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His later career was tainted by numerous accusations of failing to give credit to the work of others and even trying to appropriate it in his own name. This came to a head in 1844 when he claimed sole credit for material in his paper on belemnites which had clearly already been presented to the Geological Society by Chaning Pearce a few years earlier. He was as a consequence voted off the councils of the Zoological Society and the Royal Society.

Related Topics:
1844 - Belemnite - Chaning Pearce - Zoological Society - Royal Society

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~