Join Professor Brian Regal (Kean University, United States) at the Museum as he illuminates the Victorian fascination with the monstrous through the career of the major naturalist Richard Owen.
The well-known naturalist, Richard Owen (1804 – 1892), had a career long engagement with monstrous creatures. He investigated fossil marine reptiles as well as the giant moa, and in the 1830s he famously christened large fossil reptiles ‘Dinosauria’.
Owen also researched sea-serpents and monsters, which captivated the public’s attention in the 19th century just as they do today. During this period a number of high-profile naturalists investigated reports of these monsters, and Owen’s own work is key to understanding the scepticism over sea-serpents and monsters held by modern science.
Doors open at 18:30.