In a career spanning almost 60 years Owen's greatest legacy was the establishment of the Natural History Museum London. His distinctions included a knighthood, Royal Medal for science, and honorary doctorate. He published over 600 papers and dozens of books containing many scientific firsts including coining the work 'dinosaur' (deinos = fearfully great and sauros = lizard).

Owen began is medical training in 1820 learning anatomy by dissecting executed prisoners from Lancaster Castle. He worked at the Hunterian Museum in 1827 cataloguing the collection. This introduced him to new specimens collected on voyages of discovery around the world. Much of this work involved the fossilised remains of extinct mammals and birds including the dodo and dinosaurs, on which he became one the worked leading experts.