Caption
1837 portrait of Gideon Mantell (3 February 1790 - 10 November 1852). Engraved from a painting by Samuel Stepney, later hand colouring. Published in G. Mantell's 'Thoughts on a Pebble' 1849. Gideon Mantell was a local doctor whose interest in fossils lead to his 1822 discovery near his home in Lewes of the first Iguanodon fossils (the second dinosaur discovered after Buckland's Megalosaurus). He went on to discover the third Dinosaur, Hylaeosaurus. His work formed a largely unacknowledged underpinning of Richard Owen's recognition and naming of the Dinosaur tribe in 1841/2. A somewhat tragic figure, his paleontology led to fame but a loss of fortune. His family left him and he was often near bankrupcy. In 1841 he suffered a debilitating accident. He is reported to have become a bitter rival of Sir Richard Owen.
Availability
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