In 1842 the English anatomist Richard Owen, in a report to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, observed that three large fossil reptiles, Megalosaurus, Iguanodon and Hylaeosaurus, shared features such as a sacrum of five fused vertebrae and upright limbs, and that they formed a distinct group which he called Dinosauria, from the Greek for 'fearfully great lizards'. Owen opposed Darwin's ideas, but his word gave the public a name for the extinct giants. He later supervised the dinosaur models at the Crystal Palace in 1854 and campaigned for the Natural History Museum in London, which opened in 1881.
Before and after
- 8 September 1841Birth of Antonín Dvořák
- 28 September 1841Birth of Georges Clemenceau
- 5 October 1841Publication of Deutschlandlied
- 9 November 1841Birth of Edward VII
- 1842Richard Owen coins the word Dinosauria
- 11 January 1842Birth of William James
- 9 March 1842Premiere of Nabucco
- 29 August 1842Treaty of Nanjing
- 21 September 1842Birth of Abdul Hamid II
More in Evolution & life
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- August 1856Discovery of Neanderthal 1
- 1861The first Archaeopteryx skeleton is found
- from 11 February 1896 to 20 February 1897Gojong's internal exile to the Russian legation
- 30 August 1909Charles Walcott discovers the Burgess Shale
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.