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Sir Richard Owen was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkable gift for interpreting fossils.
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culture · English biologist and palaeontologist (1804–1892) · curator · biologist · paleontologist · zoologist · university teacher · anatomist · paleoanthropologist · writer · pharmacist · naturalist · also Richard Owen, Owen, R., Sir Richard Owen, Sir R. Owen, Owen, OWEN F.R.S.
Born 20 July 1804 · Died 18 December 1892 · Q151556
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There is no doubt that rivalry resulted between the British Museum, where there was the very important Herbarium of the Department of Botany, and Kew. The rivalry at times became extremely personal, especially between Hooker and Owen ... At the root was Owen's feeling that Kew should be subordinate to the British Museum (and to Owen) and should not be allowed to develop as an independent scientific institution with the advantage of a great botanic garden.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics — for his work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him.
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“There is no doubt that rivalry resulted between the British Museum, where there was the very important Herbarium of the Department of Botany, and Kew. The rivalry at times became extremely personal, especially between Hooker and Owen ... At the root was Owen's feeling that Kew should be subordinate to the British Museum (and to Owen) and should not be allowed to develop as an independent scientific institution with the advantage of a great botanic garden.”
Marshall & Marshall Funeral Directors: Richard Owen Lind Obituary Aug 8, 2026
A fossil snake from Hordle Cliff was named Paradoxophidion richardoweni in recognition of Owen's pioneering work on fossil snakes from the area and his role in establishing the Natural History Museum, where the specimen
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Agri-Pulse: Richard Owen
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics — for his work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him.
Died 1892-12-18.
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Won Linnean Medal (1888).
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Of the now world-famous Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London
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Won Clarke Medal (1878).
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Awarded Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi (1870).
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(and later occasions) Thomas Huxley took the opportunity to arrange demonstrations of ape brain anatomy (e
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Owen named Protichnites – the oldest footprints found on land
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Won Copley Medal (1851).
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Won Croonian Medal and Lecture (1851).
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A few years before his death in 1852, Gideon Mantell had realised that Iguanodon, of which he was the discoverer, was not a heavy, pachyderm-like animal, as Owen was proposing, but had slender forelimbs
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Won Royal Medal (1846).
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Was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society
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Won Royal Society Bakerian Medal (1844).
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(it was revealed only decades later that the book had been authored by publisher Robert Chambers)
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Became an associated member of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands
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Was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
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And edited many issues of its journal – then known as The Microscopic Journal
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Won Wollaston Medal (1838).
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Owen was appointed Hunterian professor at the Royal College, and in 1849, he succeeded William Clift as conservator of the Hunterian Museum
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Was the most prolific contributor of anatomical papers
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And was appointed to the Royal College of Surgeons in 1826
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Born 1804-07-20.
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