Collection: Richard Owen essay on trichina spiralis

Scope and Contents

Richard Owen relates history and defends priority of his discovery of tricina spiralis in 1835. Published in Proceedings of the Zoological Society (1882), pp. 571-575.

Dates

1882

Creator

Owen, Richard (Person)

Biographical / Historical

Sir Richard Owen, English naturalist, was born in Lancaster on 20 July 1804. He married Caroline Clift (d. 1873) in 1835; they had one son, William (d. 1886). Owen died on 18 Dec. 1892. In 1824, Owen entered Edinburgh University and attended external lectures on anatomy and surgery delivered by John Barclay. Owen went to St. Bartholomew's Hospital to study with John Abernethy in 1825. He became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1826 and began a practice in London. Owen became professor of comparative anatomy at St. Bartholomew's in 1834. From 1836 to 1856, he was the Hunterian Professor of anatomy and physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1856, he became superintendent of the natural history collections at the British Museum and Fullerian Professor of physiology at the Royal Institute in the following year. Richard Owen was knighted in 1884. He discovered trichina spiralis, the parasite causing trichinosis, in 1835.