Henry Riley (scientist)
British surgeon, anatomist, naturalist, geologist and paleontologist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henry Riley (1797–1848)[1] was a British surgeon, anatomist, naturalist, geologist and paleontologist.[2] He is notable for being the co-discoverer and co-describer of the archosaur Palaeosaurus and the dinosaur Thecodontosaurus.[3]
Henry Riley | |
|---|---|
.png) Undated portrait of Henry Riley | |
| Born | 1797 |
| Died | 1848 (age 50-51) Bristol |
| Nationality | English |
| Known for | Discovery of Palaeosaurus and Thecodontosaurus |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geology, Natural history, Anatomy |
Early life
Henry Riley was born in Bristol in 1797.[4] He trained to become a surgeon in Paris and he graduated during the mid-1820s.[1][5]
He was one of the men who founded the Bristol Institution in the 1820s. Riley was involved in a body snatching scandal in the late 1820s - he was fined £6 (inflated to £657.29 in 2019) in 1828. He was later revoked of this claim during the 1830s.
Riley married the daughter of fellow lecturer Henry Daniel, who lectured from 1810 until 1836.
Career
His Geoffroyan lectures of 1831-33 were the first to be heard in Bristol.[1] He was a physician at St. Peter's Hospital, Bristol in 1832 and the Bristol Royal Infirmary between 1834 and 1847.[1]
He taught at Bristol Medical School until he retired in 1846 due to his deteriorating health.[1]
Palaeontological discoveries
In 1833, Riley described the extinct ray-like chimaeriform Squaloraja based on a specimen found by Mary Anning four years earlier.[6]
Inthe autumn of 1834, Riley[1] and the curator of the Bristol Institution, Samuel Stutchbury, began to excavate "saurian remains" at the quarry of Durdham Down, at Clifton, presently a part of Bristol, which is part of the Magnesian Conglomerate. In 1834 and 1835, they briefly reported on the finds,[7] and they provided their initial description in 1836, naming the new genera Palaeosaurus and Thecodontosaurus.[8]
Death
Two years after retiring, Riley died in 1848 in Bristol, aged 50 or 51.[4]
References
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