Brian Regal

Brian Regal is Professor for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine in the Department of History at Kean University's College of Liberal Arts. He holds a PhD and is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. His office is located in LHAC 212 (Liberty Hall Academic Center) at Kean University in Union, NJ.

Regal's research focuses on the historical aspects of human evolution, Darwiniana, monster studies, racial anthropology, creationism, pseudoscience, bad medicine, the occult, obscuranta and esoterica. He is particularly interested in how scientific theories are constructed and then perceived and used in popular culture, religion, and politics for extra-scientific ends. His work examines the relationship between professional scientists and their amateur counterparts, especially regarding the creation/evolution debate and American national origins theories.

His publications demonstrate a strong trend toward examining how fringe scientific ideas interact with mainstream science, particularly in the context of cryptozoology and human origins. Many of his works analyze the historical evolution of monster myths and the cultural contexts that shape scientific controversies.

• Fellow of the Linnean Society of London
• Bela Kornitzer Award for best book by a Drew University Alumnus for 2005

Regal has served as an NSF human evolution grant reviewer and has completed fellowships at the Mary Baker Eddy Papers Project in Boston and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. He is on the editorial board of the history of science journal Endeavour. His teaching includes office/advising hours for Spring 2025 on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

He has lectured and presented papers to scholarly conferences and popular presentations across the US, the UK, and Germany. His work has been featured in the HULU original documentary Sasquatch (episode 3), the Science Channel documentary Mythical Beasts, PBS series Drive By History on NJTV, and the History Channel series True Monsters.