Gideon Algernon Mantell MRCS FRS (3 February 1790 – 10 November 1852) was an English
obstetrician, geologist and
palaeontologist. His attempts to reconstruct the structure and life of
Iguanodon began the scientific study of dinosaurs: in 1822 he was responsible for the discovery (and the eventual identification) of the first
fossil teeth, and later much of the skeleton, of
Iguanodon. Mantell's work on the
Cretaceous of southern England was also important.