1804-1892

British paleontologist who studied many important fossils, including Charles Darwin's South American collection and the Jurassic age Archaeopteryx. Owen was passionate about evolution and argued against natural selection, insisting instead that the Creator endowed embryos with innate abilities to deviate from the parental type and form new species. His research produced a theoretical hierarchy that elevated humans above all other anthropoid apes, a distinction based on the unique mental capacities derived from the enlarged human cerebrum.