Richard Owen (January 6, 1810 – March 25, 1890) was a Scottish-born geologist, natural scientist, educator, and American military officer who arrived in the United States in 1828 and settled at New Harmony, Indiana.

After the Civil War, Owen taught at Indiana University for fifteen years (1864–79) and chaired its natural science department.

During the interwar years, Owen taught natural science at the Western Military Institute in Kentucky and after its merger with the University of Nashville in Tennessee.

[1][2] Owen's Welsh-born father was a philanthropist and successful textile manufacturer in New Lanark, Scotland, who became a noted social reformer.

[6] He attended Philipp Emanuel von Fellenberg's school in Hofwyl, Switzerland, where he studied chemistry, physics, and natural sciences, among other subjects.

After returning to Scotland, Owen continued his education, specializing in chemistry, under Andrew Ure at Andersonian Institute (the present-day University of Strathclyde) at Glasgow.

[11] In 1828 Owen was briefly married Martha Chase, a teacher at New Harmony, but left town soon after her death to travel and work for a few years.

[2][21] In the summer of 1849 Owen assisted his brother in conducting a geological survey of northern Minnesota and the shores of Lake Superior.

He remained a member of the school's faculty until 1859 and an owner of the institute with Bushrod Johnson, who later became a general in the Confederate States Army.

In addition to teaching at the university, Owen published one of his major works, Key to the Geology of the Globe (1857) and received a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Medical College of Nashville in 1858.

[10][24] Prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War and largely because of his anti-slavery opinions, Owen resigned his position and sold his financial interest in the Institute in 1858.

Owen was promoted to colonel after the Battle of Greenbrier River and reenlisted in the 60th Indiana Infantry Regiment, where he remained until December 1863.

Owen's humane treatment of the prisoners included providing them books and allowing them to form glee clubs, theatrical groups, and sports teams.

Cost savings gained from the on-site baker provided additional funds to purchase supplies and food for the prisoners.

[23][33] During the final months of his military service, Owen led his men through other battles, including Vicksburg, Jackson, and Bayou Bourbeux in 1863.

Purdue trustees selected Owen as the school's first president on August 13, 1872, after William S. Clark of the Massachusetts Agricultural College declined their offer.

The trustees disagreed with Owen's strong emphasis on agriculture over other academic fields, as well as his desire for more comfortable dormitories and more picturesque trees on the campus.

Although ground had been broken on Purdue's first buildings and the university began to hire instructors, Owen resigned before its first regular semester of classes were in session.

[10][45] (The first informal classes were held in March 1874, after Owen had resigned, to meet a legislative deadline; the first official semester began in September.

[47] Owen remained active during his retirement years at New Harmony, Indiana, where he continued to read, conduct research, and publish works related to his scientific interests in physics, meteorology, medicine, and geology.

[2][50] Owen is buried in Maple Hill Cemetery in New Harmony, Indiana, where his epitaph reads: "His first desire was to be virtuous, his second to be wise.

"[39] In addition to his military service, especially his leadership of Camp Morton during the American Civil War, Owen was an authority on earthquakes and is best known for his contributions to the early geological surveys of Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, as well as his original research in the natural sciences.

[53] After the American Civil War, Camp Morton's former prisoners held Owen in such high esteem that they collected funds and received permission to erect a monument in his honor.

[21] In 1913 a group of Confederate Army veterans led by the newspaper magnate, Sergeant Major Sumner Archibald Cunningham, dedicated a bronze a bust of Colonel Owen by Belle Kinney at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.

[2][54] The memorial commemorates Owen's "courtesy and kindness" toward the Confederate prisoners who were held at Camp Morton in Indianapolis during the war.