First scientific description of a dinosaur

The first dinosaur to be described scientifically was Megalosaurus bucklandi (great fossil lizard) in 1824. Remains of this bipedal flesh-eater were found by workmen before 1818 in a state quarry at Stonesfield, near Woodstock, Oxon and later placed in the University Museum at Oxford. The first fossil bone of Megalosaurus was actually illustrated in 1677, but its true nature was not realized until much later. It was not until 1841 that the name Dinosauria (terrible lizards) was given to these newly-discovered giants.