Richard Owen. Portrait of Sir Richard Owen (1804- 1892), the British zoologist who coined the word dinosaur". Owen graduated in medicine but soon became interested in zoology. He became an expert in comparative anatomy and did extensive research on fossils. He described the extinct giant moas of New Zealand. He organised the first reconstruction of dinosaurs at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London. Owen was initially bitterly opposed to Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection, believing instead that evolution was due to the action of a "vital force" within cells. Owen subsequently changed his views as Darwin's ideas became widely accepted."