The Academy of Natural Sciences

Saturday, November 22, 2008, 11:39 pm EST

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the scientific description of Hadrosaurus foulkii. This dinosaur occupies a singular place in the history of paleontology. At the time of its description by Joseph Leidy in 1858, Hadrosaurus was the world's most completely known dinosaur. When the skeletal mount, a collaboration of Leidy with British sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, was put on display at the Academy in 1868, it was the first dinosaur skeleton ever mounted and would serve as a model for future dinosaur mounts in museums everywhere.