People have blundered into gigantic bones throughout human history. These finds may have grown into medieval tales of ferocious dragons. It is only in the last 200 years or so that monster-sized remains came to be explained scientifically.
By the eighteenth century, naturalists were enthusiastically collecting bones and teeth; by the first quarter of the nineteenth century, unknown fossil animals got names. The first was Megalosaurus (great lizard) which, along with Iguanadon, were formally described to the Geological Society of London.
In 1841 an English anatomist named Richard Owen authored a Report on British Fossil Reptiles in which he coined the term dinosauria. So it is from Owen we get our word dinosaur. And could Dinomania be far behind?
Dinomania
It happened in 1851 London at the famous Crystal Palace exhibition, where the world got its first look at three-dimensional restorations of dinosaurs. Richard Owen helped bring to life his Megalosaurus, Iguanadon and few other choice beasts. They were such a sensation that, after the exhibition, they were moved to an island in Sydenham Park where they may still be seen today.
In the United States, amazing fossil finds had been made as well, some in such seemingly unlikely places as New Jersey. However, a new breed of scientists, whom the next century would call paleontologists, focused their attention on the Rocky Mountain West.
Bone Wars
Directors of prominent eastern museums became obsessed with the idea of making similar earthshaking discoveries and mounting their own dinosaur exhibits. With money for expeditions flowing freely, intrepid fossil hunters dug like crazy and dreamed of fame.
The "Golden Age" for digging dinos was highlighted by a personal and professional competition between Othniel Charles Marsh (1831 - 1899) and Edward Drinker Cope (1840 - 1897). From the 1870's into the 1890's these two dinosaur hunters strove to outdo each other by naming and describing new fossil animals.
A superstar of early twentieth century fossil hunting was Roy Chapman Andrews, upon whom many think the character Indiana Jones was based. Chapman led the expedition to Mongolia's Gobi Desert that made the breakthrough discovery of dinosaur eggs.
Best Collections
Thus it was that the long dead dinosaurs influenced both the philosophy and the architecture of museums throughout the world. To see some of the best collections of real dinosaur remains, check out the following museums:
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