Owen, Richard

Owen, Richard 

Born July 20, 1804, in Lancaster; died Dec. 18, 1892, in London. English zoologist, anatomist, and paleontologist.

Owen studied medicine at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. He was subsequently appointed professor at the Royal College of Surgeons. From 1856 to 1883, Owen worked at the British Museum.

Owen primarily studied fossil mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. He wrote monographs on mollusks (Nautilus), brachi-opods, dipnoan fishes, and primates. In 1863 he described the Jurassic bird Archeopteryx lithographica. Owen investigated the problem of analogy and homology of organs. However, he did not see in homology any proof of the common origin of animals. Owen’s idealism is most clearly reflected in his ideas concerning the archetype.

WORKS

A History of British Fossil Reptiles, vols. 1–4. London, 1849–84.
On the Anatomy of Vertebrates, vols. 1–3. London, 1866–68.