William Buckland
Dr. William Buckland ( later Dean of Westminster Abbey ), was Professor of Geology at Oxford University. In 1824, he published a description of the jaw of an animal , which had sat in the University Museum since 1818, and which he called Megalosaurus. " Notice on the Megalosaurus or Great Fossil Lizard of Stonesfield."
On paper, this was the first dinosaur to be named, and therefore there is some dispute as to whether Buckland should be acclaimed as the first person to describe and name a dinosaur. He was somewhat eccentric - he kept pet jackals and a pet bear which apparently used to ride his horse with him. By all accounts he popularised science and did not take himself too seriously.