A sledgehammer dealt the final blow to New York City’s dream of a paleontology museum.
These were the first 3-D renderings of any North American dinosaur, a testament to the continent’s geologic past that scientists were only just beginning to understand. But the public would never see the skeleton or the statute.
The workers wrecked the workshop. Plans and drawings were torn to pieces. Sledgehammers shattered the dinosaurs.
In the more than 150 years since, this vandalism has remained one of the most infamous events in paleontology. The story passed down through the years is that the workshop was destroyed on the orders of New York political boss William Tweed in a malicious act of political and religious vengeance.
2024-01-09 08:00:00
Original from www.sciencenews.org
