Dean Lomax on discovering ichthyosaurs and defying nay-sayers

About this episode

Dr. Dean Lomax shares his journey from being told he wouldn't succeed in paleontology to becoming an expert on ichthyosaurs.

Have you ever been told you aren't good enough to do something, then gone ahead and proved the naysayers wrong by doing it anyway - in glorious, headline-grabbing style? That is the satisfying story of Dr Dean Lomax. Dean grew up in Doncaster with a passion for fossils but after failing various school exams, was told by teachers that he'd never make it as a palaeontologist. Undeterred by leaving school with no qualifications, Dean sold his childhood Star Wars collection to fund a fossil-hunting trip to America that changed his life - after which a chance discovery led to him publishing his first ever scientific paper at the age of just 20. Today, he’s an expert on ichthyosaurs - the massive marine reptiles that once inhabited our seas - and has discovered and named several new species, written books for both adults and children, and brought the prehistoric world to life on TV. Talking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Dean discusses dinosaurs as a 'gateway science', discovering the Rutland Sea Dragon and the importance of cutting out noise from nay-sayers to follow your dreams... Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor A BBC Studios production

People in this episode

Host: Jim Al-Khalili

Guest: Dean Lomax

Topics covered

• paleontology
• ichthyosaurs
• overcoming adversity
• fossil hunting
• science communication

Keywords

• Dean Lomax
• ichthyosaurs
• paleontology
• fossils
• Rutland Sea Dragon
• science
• overcoming challenges

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC Studios

Books & works: Star Wars

Places: Doncaster

More episodes of The Life Scientific

• Helen Hastie on the future of human-robot relations · May 19, 2026 · 28 min
• Seth Berkley on the importance of vaccinating the world · May 12, 2026 · 28 min
• Hiranya Peiris on unravelling the story of the universe · May 5, 2026 · 28 min
• Washington Yotto Ochieng on the navigation tech that keeps our world moving · April 28, 2026 · 28 min
• Lucy Carpenter on how our oceans are destroying ozone · April 21, 2026 · 28 min
• Jens Juul Holst on the gut hormone discovery behind weight-loss drugs · April 14, 2026 · 28 min