Robert T. Bakker
The original remains were found in Charmouth, Dorset, England and were destroyed in November 1940, during World War II, leaving only plaster casts of the remains to be studied. At first the animal was thought to be another "Plesiosaurus" species by William Johnson Sollas in 1881, but after studies on the plaster casts made after the remains, "Plesiosaurus conybeari" was assigned to a new genus ("Attenborosaurus") by Robert T. Bakker in 1993.