Franz Baron Nopcsa von Felso-Szilvás

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Franz Baron Nopcsa von Felso-Szilvás was among the first people to think about what fossils can tell us about how extinct animals lived – rather than just giving them a name Nopcsa is therefore considered the father of palaeo-biology. Nopcsa described the first fossil evidence that the Sauropods had gone through a process of island dwarfism – shrinking body size over generations to adapt to living on islands. Nopcsa was a flamboyant character and was unafraid to make his more wacky and outlandish theories public and was also one of very few openly gay men in the early part of the 20th century. Paul Barrett, dinosaur research at the Natural History Museum, explains why Nopsca is his Natural History Hero. Produced by Ellie Sans First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.