Public Lecture: Dinosaurs - Changing Views In The Last 200 Years

When Megalosaurus was named in 1824, nobody had any idea what a dinosaur was. The new beast was identified as either a huge crocodile or lizard, up to 100 m long. It took many more finds in the next 50 years to get a clearer idea of the amazing diversity of dinosaurs. But this opened a new debate behind the scenes: what did these amazing reptiles look like when they were alive and how did they function? Some professors said this was all mad speculation, but others decided to work with artists to show dinosaurs as living creatures. This tension around ’how far you should go’ in turning bones into flesh and blood still continues today, even in the world of 3D animation. In the end, what do we know about dinosaurs and what is speculative?