‘Richard Owen: A Natural Legacy’ in the Images of Nature gallery at the Natural History Museum Wonderfully curated journey through Owen’s career through the illustrations he used for his papers & books, drew himself and plans for the Museum itself

There's a special showing of Our Dinosaurs, (www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnQT...) a documentary on the Crystal Palace dinosaurs tomorrow evening at the West Norwood Picturehouse. Check it out if you can!

One day to go! Our free exhibition Naturalists' Notebooks opens tomorrow: In these notebooks, we'll explore how naturalists sketched and scribbled, shaping our understanding of the natural world from the 18th century to today. We're looking forward to welcoming you! Find out more: bit.ly/43kBXmC

John Hunter, Scottish surgeon and anatomist was born #OTD 1728. This amazing illustration is taken from Hunter's Natural History of the Human Teeth (c.1771). #histmed

Been enjoying a talk by @richardfallon.bsky.social at The Geological Society this evening. I love a beautifully illustrated talk. But I love a beautifully illustrated talk properly credited to public domain image archives even more! Wellcome Collection ▶️ wellcomecollection.org/works/nwr2u2...

Darwin's birthday is coming up next week and the question is… how do I beat last year’s cake? 😂

Gideon Mantell was born #OTD, 1790. He described the Iguanodon & Hylaerosaurus. In 1850 he provides a drawing of a thin section from a “dorsal dermal spine” of Hylaerosaurus, the first clear description of dinosaur bone microstructure. ⚒️🧪 #histsci paleonerdish.wordpress.com/2020/01/31/f...

I don’t think I can go as far as to call doodling cartoons of my subjects as an “interdisciplinary approach” - but I do find drawing concepts helpful to remembering them. That said, I do think often about Richard Owen’s attempted hijacking of the Hunterian Museum.

In 2022, the V&A had an exhibition on Beatrix Potter. THOUGH, my motivation for visiting was more niche. Tucked away in one of the corners was a photograph taken by her father, Rupert, in 1873 of the building site where the Natural History Museum was to be erected.

For National #Handwritingday, a letter from Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins to Edward Trimmer (of the Royal College of Surgeons) in Aug 1862, recalling the famous NYE dinner in the Iguanodon mould (from one of @profjoecain.bsky.social’s many excellent posts, profjoecain.net/remembering-...)

For everyone celebrating today, a very Merry Christmas from all of us 🙏🦖🎅 xxx

Whoever owned this copy of Richard Owen's "History of British Fossil Mammals" (1846) had some corrections to make about this secton on hippos.

Our collections hold items of all shapes and sizes and this is our biggest! An original drawing of Megatherium by George Scharf (1788-1860). Comprising 14 sheets it measures a whopping 2.46 x 5.7 metres (L&A staff shown for scale). #SpecialCollections #FridayFun

Megatherium by the artist George Johann Scharf (1788-1860) which measures a whopping 2.46m x 5.7m - the lovely @andreahart.bsky.social is my scale bar - sandy colour were the parts that Owen had to work with at the time - grey areas show those parts of that were missing (& thus not so accurate)

Wow! The largest watercolour in the @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social collection, AND it’s a fossil mammal! 2.5×5.7 metres of Megatherium painted by artist George Scharf in 1842. Coloured parts include real specimens collected by Darwin, studied by Owen, now in the NHM collection 🦥 #fossilfriday

“THIS IS A CUSTOMER SAFETY ANNOUNCEMENT Passengers at Crystal Palace station, do not be alarmed at the GIANT VICTORIAN IGUANODON HEAD (and accompanying info boards) that has appeared on the concourse” This is a project that we’ve been working on, and unveiled at an event this afternoon! 1/2

Interested in the Dodo? We have a new lay-article out in The Linnean! @linneansociety.bsky.social @neilgostling.bsky.social edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader...

Felt it was probably right to show this off at the source.

Hello Bluesky! We are very happy to be here. Looking forward to connecting with friends old and new. (For those that are new, here's an intro to the Dinos: cpdinosaurs.org/visit/what-a... and who we are: cpdinosaurs.org/about/who-ar...)

Another interesting sculpture of Richard Owen is currently housed in the lobby of the Royal College of Surgeons - the profile calls to mind a comment made by Thomas Carlyle, a friend of Owen’s, who likened his side-profile to wedge of cheese.

It's fairly unusual to find statue representation of Richard Owen (Outside of the institutions he worked in) but Dalton Square in Lancaster has him standing next to Charles Darwin on this memorial in Dalton Square. Incidentally, adjacent to the location of the house Owen was born in on Thurnam St.

The Society's ballot box has played a crucial role in many important #decisions since our foundation, most notably in 1903 for the vote to allow women to become Fellows. With a majority of 54 votes to 17, the admission of female Fellows was finally granted. #EYA #Decisions

From the Linnean Society earlier this month as a stall holder for their careers event - felt quite surreal to see all the articles I’d written together!

We don't hear enough about people like Isabelle Duncan and G. H. Pember, who contended that prehistoric animals co-existed with angels and demons. Granted, enough would be a lot, but I have questions about that state of affairs.

A piece I did for Richard Owen's birthday this year. Also just to practice some cartooning.

Just reposting a few old bits to get started on here, annoying to have to move platforms over but xwitter is certainly not somewhere I imagine lasting much longer.

On July 20th, 1804, Richard Owen was born in Thurnum Street, Lancaster near what is now Dalton Square. Strangely, of the row of Georgian houses, Owen’s appears to be the only one which has been demolished, leaving in it’s wake a small planted garden and an information board.

Hi, Bluesky! I'm Leah Demetriou, an Independent Historical Researcher Specialising in Victorian Natural Science & Richard Owen. www.leahgeorgedemetriou.com

In honour of this insane Homotherium cub news, here’s a lovely H. latidens canine we have at NHM London, one of the first discovered in England and among those used by Richard Owen to describe the species in 1846. Happy #FossilFriday!