George Washington died before dinosaurs were discovered.
Judgement: 
Although humans have likely lived alongside dinosaur fossils for thousands of years, a fossilized dinosaur bone was first described in 1842 - more than four years after George Washington's death.
That George Washington died before it was discovered that dinosaurs existed is a claim that has been circulating online for years.
George Washington died in 1799, the first dinosaur fossil was discovered in 1824. George Washington never knew dinosaurs existed.
- Shower Thoughts (@ShwrThght) March 18, 2020
This is true. According to the National Constitution Center the former president died on December 14, 1799. Meanwhile, the first official scientific description of 'Dinosauria' took place in 1842, writes the University of California Museum of Paleontology .
But like the Biodiversity Heritage Library admits that humans have probably lived alongside dinosaur fossils for thousands of years. Legends of dragons, For example Some think they are inspired by dinosaur bones.
was the first dinosaur to be officially described in the scientific literature in 1842, writes the Natural history museum . However, people think so fossils of the now extinct carnivorous therapod - which once stood 9 meters tall - were discovered almost two centuries earlier. At the time, however, they were mistaken for the thigh bones of giant humans.
Let's take a walk through time.
A large bone was discovered in a quarry in Oxfordshire by naturalist Robert Plot in a 1677 edition of This is reported by the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Was included The Natural History of Oxford-shire an illustration of the then-unnamed bone, as well as a description suggesting that the bone resembled that of the lower part of a human femur .
The story continues
At first Plot suggested the bone was from an elephant. After further investigation, he concluded that it probably belonged to an ancient, gigantic human.
Almost a century later, in 1763, English physician Richard Brookes reviewed Plot's work in his compilation of books, A new and accurate natural history system . In it, Brookes agreed that the fossil belonged to a human - albeit a completely different body part. So the now defunct "" became the officially documented name. It appeared in it of Brookes' book when he wrote that 'stones have been found which exactly represent the genitals of a man'.
It was not until 1842, more than four decades after Washington's death, that biologist Richard Owens published the lesson " Dinosauria ' for the first time in his book, . Three genera were used to define this new grouping: the carnivorous the herbivore Report on British fossil reptiles and the armored one .
Based on illustrations like the one above, many scientists agree that the bone described belonged to that of a . However, neither Plot nor Brookes described it as such, and since the fossil is now lost, the origin story is probably gone as well.
Sources:
British Association for the Advancement of Science., and British Association for the Advancement of Science. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 1841, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/104191.
-. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 1841, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/104191.
Brookes, R., and R. Brookes. A new and accurate natural history system. Printed for J. Newbery, 1763, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/111943.
Brookes, R. (Richard). A new and accurate natural history system London, printed for J. Newbery, 1763. Internet Archive http://archive.org/details/newaccuratesyste05broo.
Brookes, Richard. The Natural History of Fish and Snakes, Including Sea Turtles, Crustaceans and Shellfish, with Their Medicinal Uses: Illustrated with Cuts. LEGARE STREET Press, 2023.
Dinosauria: how the 'terrible lizards' got their name. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-dinosaurs-got-their-name.html. Accessed January 3, 2024.
George Washington Died Before Dinosaurs Were Discovered - Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=george+washington+died+for+dinosaurs+weren+discovered&oq=george+washington+died+for+dinosaurs+weren+ontdekt&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDU5ODZqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8# IP=1. Accessed January 3, 2024.
" Https://Twitter.Com/ShwrThght/Status/1240370454075858944?Lang=en." X (formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/ShwrThght/status/1240370454075858944?lang=en. Accessed January 3, 2024.
Hylaeosaurus. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/hylaeosaurus.html. Accessed January 3, 2024.
Iguanodon. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/iguanodon.html. Accessed January 3, 2024.
Magazine, Smithsonian and Joseph Stromberg. "Where did dragons come from?" Smithsonian Magazine, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/where-did-dragons-come-from-23969126/. Accessed January 3, 2024.
Plot, Robert. The Natural History of Oxford-Shire: Being an Essay on the Natural History of England. Oxford: in the theatre; London: with Mr. S. Millers, 1677. Internet Archive http://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof00plotuoft.
-. The Natural History of Oxford-Shire: Being an Essay on the Natural History of England. Oxford: in the theatre; London: with Mr. S. Millers, 1677. Internet Archive http://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof00plotuoft.
"Robert Plot's Lost Dinosaur Bone." Tetrapod Zoology December 16, 2022, https://tetzoo.com/blog/2022/12/12/robert-plots-lost-dinosaur-bone.
"The Birth of Dinosaurs: Richard Owen and Dinosauria." Biodiversity Heritage Library October 16, 2015, https://blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2015/10/the-birth-of-dinosaurs-richard-owen-and-dinosauria.html.
The Dinosaurs. https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/taxa/verts/dinosauria/index.php#:~:text=The%20term%20%22Dinosauria%22%20was%20invented,dinosaurs%20known%20at%20the%20time. Accessed January 3, 2024.
"The Mysterious Death of George Washington | Constitution Center." National Constitution Center - Constitutioncenter.Org, https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-mysterious-death-of-george-washington. Accessed January 3, 2024.
TikTok - Make your day. https://www.tiktok.com/@kingoftieland/video/7240164297303756075?lang=en. Accessed January 3, 2024.
"Why Did George Washington Never Know Dinosaurs Existed?" Quora, https://www.quora.com/Why-did-George-Washington-never-know-dinosaurs-existed. Accessed January 3, 2024.
https://blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2015/10/the-first-described-and-validly-named-dinosaur-megalosaurus.html. Accessed January 3, 2024.
