200 years of dinosaur science

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

In 1824, 200 years ago, Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur to ever be described in a scientific paper. William Buckland studied fossils from Stonesfield in Oxfordshire in order to describe the animal.

In this episode, Victoria Gill visits palaeontologist Dr Emma Nicholls at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, who shows her those very fossils that launched the new science of palaeontology. Danielle Czerkaszyn then opens the archives to reveal the scientific illustrations of Megalosaurus by Mary Morland, which helped shape Buckland's description.

But this was just the beginning. Over the coming decades, remains kept being discovered and scientists were gripped with dinosaur mania, racing to find species. Now, in 2024, we're finding new dinosaurs all the time. Victoria travels to the University of Edinburgh to meet Professor Steve Brusatte and Dr Tom Challands as they start extracting a dinosaur bone from a piece of Jurassic rock - could this be a new species? Together, they reflect on how palaeontology has changed over the last 200 years and ponder the ongoing mysteries of these charismatic animals.

Presenter: Victoria Gill Producers: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell and Hannah Robins Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth  Editor: Martin Smith

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast I'd like to introduce myself. My name's
0:04.0	Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a load of sport
0:07.5	podcasts. I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with leading
0:11.1	journalists, experienced pundits and the biggest
0:13.3	sports stars. Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights
0:17.4	straight from the player's mouth. But the best thing about doing this at the BBC is
0:22.0	our unique access to the sporting world.
0:25.0	What that means is that we can bring you podcasts that create a real connection to
0:28.9	dedicated sports fans across the UK.
0:31.5	So if you like this podcast, head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more.
0:37.0	BBC Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts.
0:40.8	Hello you lovely curious-minded people people you're listening to BBC Inside Science and I'm Victoria Gill.
0:49.0	Today we're dedicating the whole show to the beasts that ruled the earth for 165 million years
0:56.2	before they vanished from our planet in a catastrophic extinction event 66 million years ago.
1:02.2	Some were as tiny as a hummingbird, the biggest
1:05.2	with the size of passenger jets. I am talking, of course, about dinosaurs. Their
1:12.0	awesome skeletons fill museum exhibits around dinosaurs. obsession with these prehistoric reptiles.
1:23.0	And that all started exactly 200 years ago
1:26.0	when geologist William Buckland described megalosaurus,
1:29.0	the first dinosaur to be named in a scientific paper.
1:33.0	Buckland presented his work to the Geological Society in 1824.
1:37.0	I want to find out what happened when Buckland introduced the world to dinosaurs and how since then scientists have unearthed the secrets of 165 million years of dinosaur evolution.
	...

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