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Othniel Charles Marsh

November 30, 2023

Othniel Charles Marsh (October 29, 1831 – March 18, 1899) was an American professor of paleontology at Yale College and president of the National Academy of Sciences.[1] He was one of the preeminent scientists in the field of paleontology. Among his legacies are the discovery or description of dozens of new species and theories on the origins of birds.

Othniel Charles Marsh
Portrait of Marsh, c. 1865–1880
Born(1831-10-29)October 29, 1831
Lockport, New York, U.S.
DiedMarch 18, 1899(1899-03-18) (aged 67)
New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materYale College (BA, MA)
University of Berlin
Heidelberg University
University of Breslau
Known forBone Wars
AwardsBigsby Medal (1877)
Scientific career
FieldsPaleontology
InstitutionsYale University
Signature
Marsh's house, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Born into a modest family, Marsh was able to afford higher education thanks to the generosity of his wealthy uncle George Peabody. After graduating from Yale College in 1860 he travelled the world, studying anatomy, mineralogy and geology. He obtained a teaching position at Yale upon his return. From the 1870s to 1890s, he competed with rival paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in a period of frenzied Western American expeditions known as the Bone Wars. Marsh's greatest legacy is the collection of Mesozoic reptiles, Cretaceous birds, and Mesozoic and Tertiary mammals that now constitute the backbone of the collections of Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution.[2] Marsh has been called "both a superb paleontologist and the greatest proponent of Darwinism in nineteenth-century America."[3]

Biography edit

Early life edit

Marsh was born October 29, 1831, in Lockport, New York, United States, to a family of modest means. His father, Caleb Marsh, was a farmer. His mother, Mary Gaines Peabody, was the younger sister of wealthy banker and philanthropist George Peabody, and died of cholera when Marsh was less than three years old.[4]: 12  The financial backing of his uncle allowed Marsh to obtain a formal education.[5] He graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, in 1856 and Yale College with his bachelor of arts degree with honors in 1860.[4]: 13 [6]

Marsh received a Berkeley Scholarship from Yale, and studied geology, mineralogy and chemistry at Yale's Sheffield Scientific School from 1860 to 1862, earning an MA in 1863.[4]: 13  He next studied paleontology and anatomy in Berlin, Heidelberg and Breslau from 1862 to 1865.[7] On his return to the United States in 1866 he was appointed professor of vertebrate paleontology at Yale University, making him the first professor of paleontology in the United States.[4]: 13 

The same year, the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale was founded with a donation of US$150,000 from George Peabody, on Marsh's suggestion.[5] Marsh served as a trustee of the Peabody Museum and was one of its three original curators.[4]: 10 

 
Brontosaurus excelsus in the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. Found in 1879 at Como Bluff, Wyoming.

Career edit

After receiving an inheritance of US$100,000 from his uncle, George Peabody,[4]: 13  Marsh and his many fossil hunters were able to uncover about 500 new species of fossil animals, which were all named later by Marsh himself in the almost 400 scientific articles he published during his career.[4]: 13  In May 1871, Marsh uncovered the first pterosaur fossils found in America. He also described early horses, flying reptiles, Cretaceous and Jurassic dinosaurs such as Triceratops, Stegosaurus,[4]: 13  Brontosaurus,[4]: 13  Apatosaurus and Allosaurus,[4]: 13  and described the toothed birds of the Cretaceous Ichthyornis[8] and Hesperornis.[9]

Marsh discovered fossils showing the evolution of the horse. It was the ability to document Darwin's theory of evolution through the fossil record that made Marsh's efforts so significant. Marsh, more than anyone, produced the physical evidence to support Darwin's work. In 1876, English biologist and anthropologist Thomas Henry Huxley visited Marsh. Huxley's views on evolution were initially quite different from those of Marsh. However, Marsh showed him his collection of fossils and explained his conclusions. Huxley changed his opinions to match those of Marsh, and made them the basis of his famous New York lecture on the horse.[10][11]

In 1868, Marsh was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society.[12]

In November 1874, Marsh arrived at the Red Cloud Agency during a fossil collecting expedition to the White River Badlands. Besides collecting two tons of fossils, Marsh verified Red Cloud's charges of the agency's continued mismanagement and fraud, despite the 1871 Board of Indian Commissioners discovery of widespread cheating. Marsh promised to take Red Cloud's complaints back to Washington. Another commission investigated, and wrote in their report they "fully sustain the allegations of Prof. Marsh." This resulted in several government official's resignations. Marsh received praise from George Custer for "exposing the well known frauds and irregularities of the Indian ring," while Red Cloud stated Marsh, "...told the Great Father everything just as he promised he would, and I think he is the best white man I ever saw."[13]

Marsh began uncovering a vast array of Jurassic specimens in 1877 in the Morrison Formation near Morrison, Colorado in what is now known as Dinosaur Ridge. Later that year, he learned of the fossils at Como Bluff, Wyoming, and his workers there produced more astounding results, continuing until 1889. Marsh's men also excavated near Canon City, Colorado, and in the Denver Beds of the Lance Formation. The Morrison workers sent back 230 large boxes of bones to Marsh at Yale. His Canon City workers sent back 270 boxes, and 480 boxes were sent from Como Bluff. Marsh biographer Charles Schuchert referred to this as "truly the richest harvest of dinosaurs ever garnered by a single paleontologist."[14]

Marsh's work with early mammals is also quite significant. In early 1878, Marsh was ecstatic to find that one of his men at Como Bluff had found a mammal fossil from the Jurassic period. This led to further discoveries which increased the knowledge of Jurassic mammals exponentially. Marsh was able to describe new genera and species in every major mammalian group.[15]

In 1880, Marsh caught the attention of the scientific world with the publication of Odontornithes: a Monograph on Extinct Birds of North America, which included his discoveries of birds with teeth. These skeletons helped bridge the gap between dinosaurs and birds, and provided invaluable support for Darwin's theory of evolution.[16] Darwin wrote to Marsh saying, "Your work on these old birds & on the many fossil animals of N. America has afforded the best support to the theory of evolution, which has appeared within the last 20 years" (since Darwin's publication of Origin of Species).[17][18]

 
Hesperornis regalis, a species of ancient flightless bird with teeth, as drawn by Othniel Marsh, and published in his book, Odontornithes: A Monograph on the Extinct Toothed Birds of North America.

Marsh served as Vertebrate Paleontologist of the U.S. Geological Survey from 1882 to 1892.[5] Thanks to John Wesley Powell, head of the USGS, and Marsh's contacts in Washington, Marsh was placed at the head of the consolidated government survey in the late 1880s.[19]

Between 1883 and 1895, Marsh was President of the National Academy of Sciences.[5]

The pinnacle of Marsh's work with dinosaurs came in 1896 with the publication of his two quartos, Dinosaurs of North America and Vertebrate Fossils, which demonstrated his unsurpassed knowledge of the subject.[20]

On December 13, 1897, Marsh received the Cuvier Prize of 1,500 francs from the French Academy of Science.[21]

Death edit

Marsh died on March 18, 1899, a few years after his great rival Cope.[6] He was interred at the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut.

Bone Wars edit

Main article: Bone Wars

Marsh is also known for the so-called "Bone Wars" waged against Edward Drinker Cope. The two men were fiercely competitive, discovering and documenting more than 120 new species of dinosaurs between them.[4]: 14 

In the winter of 1863, Marsh first met Cope while in Berlin. Marsh, age thirty-two, was attending the University of Berlin. He held two university degrees in comparison to Cope's lack of formal schooling past sixteen, but Cope had written 37 scientific papers in comparison to Marsh's two published works. While they would later become rivals, on meeting the two men appeared to take a liking to each other. Marsh led Cope on a tour of the city, and they stayed together for days. After Cope left Berlin the two maintained correspondence, exchanging manuscripts, fossils, and photographs.[22]: 11 

Cope named Colosteus marshii for Marsh in 1867, and Marsh returned the favor, naming Mosasaurus copeanus for Cope in 1869.[4]: 15 

In 1868, Marsh visited Cope in Haddonfield, New Jersey. Cope had been recovering fossils from the quarries since 1866, including those of Laelaps aquilungis which he described as a new species. Before he departed, Marsh contracted the owners of several marl pits to send any newly-discovered fossils to him, and not to Cope.[4]: 15 [23]: 35 

The two began to develop a rivalry when Cope allegedly found out about Marsh's bribery and it was taken to the American west when Marsh and Cope began their competition over Eocene mammals in Wyoming.[24] The conflict would last until the pair died, with the conflict eventually focusing on the discovery of dinosaurs and ancestral mammals.[25]

According to Peter Dodson, "Each man in his own right has left a legacy, and each was a distinguished researcher. But really it seems impossible to say one name without the other. Cope and Marsh." Marsh's names for three dinosaur groups, and nineteen genera, have survived, and though only three of Cope's named genera are still in use, he published a record 1400 scientific papers.[13]: 381–382 

Legacy edit

See also: Category:Taxa named by Othniel Charles Marsh

Marsh named the following dinosaur genera:

 
Othniel Marsh (center, back row) and assistants ready for digging in 1872

He named the suborders Ceratopsia (1890), Ceratosauria (1884), Ornithopoda (1881), Stegosauria (1877), and Theropoda (1881).

He also named the families Allosauridae (1878), Anchisauridae (1885), Camptosauridae (1885), Ceratopsidae (1890), Ceratosauridae, Coeluridae, Diplodocidae (1884), Dryptosauridae (1890), Nodosauridae (1890), Ornithomimidae (1890), Plateosauridae (1895), and Stegosauridae (1880).

Marsh dubbed many additional species of dinosaur as well, notable taxa including Allosaurus fragilis, Triceratops horridus, Stegosaurus stenops, Ornithomimus velox, and Brontosaurus excelsus.

Dinosaurs named by others in honour of Marsh include Hoplitosaurus marshi (Lucas, 1901), Iaceornis marshi (Clarke, 2004), Marshosaurus (Madsen, 1976), Othnielia (Galton, 1977), and Othnielosaurus (Galton, 2007).

Marsh's finds formed the original core of the collection of Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History. The museum's Great Hall is dominated by the first fossil skeleton of Brontosaurus that he discovered, which was reclassified as Apatosaurus for a time. However, an extensive study published in 2015 concluded that Brontosaurus was a valid genus of sauropod distinct from Apatosaurus.[26][27][28] Some other Marsh taxa like Camarasaurus lentus, Nanosaurus agilis, and Camptosaurus dispar are also represented in the Peabody fossil hall.

He donated his home in New Haven, Connecticut, to Yale University in 1899. The Othniel C. Marsh House, now known as Marsh Hall, is designated a National Historic Landmark. Marsh Hall serves as the home of the Yale School of Forestry at the Yale School of the Environment. The grounds are now known as the Marsh Botanical Garden.

Marsh was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1877.[29]

Marsh formulated the Law of brain growth, which states that, during the tertiary period, many taxonomic groups presented gradual increase in the size of the brain. This evolutionary law remains being used due to its explanatory, and to a certain extent, predictive potential [30]

Prior to Marsh's efforts, the entirety of fossil remains known in North America was quite small. As a result of the generosity of George Peabody, Marsh was able to keep discovery teams in the field almost continuously from 1870 until his death. The material recovered in his 30 years of collection was simply astonishing to the scientific community. At the Peabody Museum, Marsh was the first to create skeletal displays of dinosaurs, which are now common in countless museums of natural history.[31]

Marsh biographer Mark J. McCarren summed it up this way, Marsh's "contributions to the understanding of extinct reptiles, birds and mammals are unequaled in the history of paleontology."[32]

Marsh Butte, located in the Grand Canyon, was officially named in his honor in 1906.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Othniel Charles Marsh". Scientific American. 54 (18): 279–281. May 1886. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican05011886-279.
  2. ^ Tuna, Cari (26 January 2005). "In fossils, Marsh's legacy lives on". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 26 January 2005.
  3. ^ McCarren, Mark J. The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh',' p. 1, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1993. ISBN 0-912532-32-7.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Dingus, Lowell (2018). King of the Dinosaur Hunters: The life of John Bell Hatcher and the discoveries that shaped paleontology. Pegasus Books. ISBN 9781681778655.
  5. ^ a b c d "Othniel Charles Marsh". Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. 2017. Retrieved 2017-07-27.
  6. ^ a b "Professor Marsh is Dead. The World-Famous Geologist Succumbs to Pneumonia. Chair of Paleontology Founded for Him. Caused the Establishment of Peabody Museum". New York Times. March 19, 1899. Retrieved 2010-07-28. Othniel C. Marsh, M.A., Ph.D., LL.D., professor of paleontology at Yale University, curator of the geological collection at the same institution, ...
  7. ^ Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Marsh, Othniel Charles" . Encyclopedia Americana.
  8. ^ Marsh, O.C. (1872). "Notice of a new and remarkable fossil bird". American Journal of Science. Series 3. 4 (22): 344.
  9. ^ Marsh, O.C. (1872). "Discovery of a new and remarkable fossil bird". American Journal of Science. Series 3. 3 (3): 57.
  10. ^ Plate, Robert. The Dinosaur Hunters: Othniel C. Marsh and Edward D. Cope, pp. 204-5, David McKay Company, Inc., New York, New York, 1964.
  11. ^ McCarren, Mark J. The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh, pp. 44-6, 52-3, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1993. ISBN 0-912532-32-7.
  12. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  13. ^ a b Jaffe, Mark (2000). The Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War between E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh and the Rise of American Science. New York: Three Rivers Press. pp. 112–143. ISBN 9780609807057.
  14. ^ McCarren, Mark J. The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh, p. 7-8, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1993. ISBN 0-912532-32-7.
  15. ^ McCarren, Mark J. The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh, pp. 19-21, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1993. ISBN 0-912532-32-7.
  16. ^ McCarren, Mark J. The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh, pp. 16-17, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1993. ISBN 0-912532-32-7.
  17. ^ Plate, Robert. The Dinosaur Hunters: Othniel C. Marsh and Edward D. Cope, pp. 210-11, David McKay Company, Inc., New York, New York, 1964.
  18. ^ Cianfaglione, Paul. "O.C. Marsh Odontornithes Monograph Still Relevant Today", 20 Jul 2016, Avian Musings: "going beyond the field mark."
  19. ^ Wallace, David Rains (1999). The Bonehunters' Revenge: Dinosaurs, Greed, and the Greatest Scientific Feud of the Gilded Age. Houghton Mifflin Books. pp. 175–179. ISBN 0-618-08240-9.
  20. ^ McCarren, Mark J. The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh, p. 11, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1993. ISBN 0-912532-32-7.
  21. ^ "Minor Paragraphs". Popular Science Monthly: 574. Feb 1898. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  22. ^ Jaffe, Mark (2000). The Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War Between E. D. Cope and O. C. Marsh and the Rise of American Science. New York: Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-517-70760-9.
  23. ^ Gallagher, William B (1997). When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-2349-1.
  24. ^ Wheeler, W. H. (1960). The Uintatheres and the Cope-Marsh War: This feud is an interesting but unfortunate part of the history of science in 19th century America. Science, 131(3408), 1171-1176.
  25. ^ Ernissee, J. J. (2003). Bone Wars: The Excavation and Celebrity of Andrew Carnegie's Dinosaur. Rocks and Minerals, 78(4), 279.
  26. ^ Tschopp, E.; Mateus, O. V.; Benson, R. B. J. (2015). "A specimen-level phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Diplodocidae (Dinosauria, Sauropoda)". PeerJ. 3: e857. doi:10.7717/peerj.857. PMC 4393826. PMID 25870766. 
  27. ^ Gorman, James (7 April 2015). "A Prehistoric Giant Is Revived, if Only in Name". New York Times. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  28. ^ Choi, Charles. "The Brontosaurus Is Back". Scientific American.
  29. ^ "MemberListM".
  30. ^ Faria, Felipe (2017). "Marsh's law of brain growth and the idea of biological progress in evolution". Scientiae Studia. 15 (2): 387–410. doi:10.11606/51678-31662017000200009.
  31. ^ McCarren, Mark J. The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh, pp. 2, 8-9, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1993. ISBN 0-912532-32-7.
  32. ^ McCarren, Mark J. The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh, p. 55, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1993. ISBN 0-912532-32-7.

Further reading edit

  • University of California Museum of Paleontology. "Othniel Charles Marsh (1832–1899)". UC Berkeley. Retrieved 2007-03-07.
  • . Lefalophodon. National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. Archived from the original on 2007-02-07. Retrieved 2007-03-07.
  • The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh: Birds, Bones, and Brontotheres (Peabody Museum of Natural History Special Publication No 15) (Paperback) by Mark J. McCarren
  • Jaffe, Mark (2000). The Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War Between E. D. Cope and O. C. Marsh and the Rise of American Science. New York: Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 0-517-70760-8.
  • Lanham, Url (1973). The Bone Hunters. New York and London: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-03152-1.
  • Wilford, John Noble (1985). The Riddle of the Dinosaur. New York: Knopf Publishing. ISBN 0-394-74392-X.

External links edit

 
Wikisource has original works by or about:
Othniel Charles Marsh
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Othniel Charles Marsh.
  • Works by or about Othniel Charles Marsh at Internet Archive
  • "Dinosaur Wars". American Experience. 2011-01-17. PBS.
  • O. C. Marsh Papers. marsh.dinodb.com
  • View works by Othniel Charles Marsh online at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  • National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
  • Scientist of the Day-Othniel Charles Marsh at Linda Hall Library
  • Othneil Charles Marsh papers (MS 343). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.[1]

November 30, 2023
othniel, charles, marsh, october, 1831, march, 1899, american, professor, paleontology, yale, college, president, national, academy, sciences, preeminent, scientists, field, paleontology, among, legacies, discovery, description, dozens, species, theories, orig. Othniel Charles Marsh October 29 1831 March 18 1899 was an American professor of paleontology at Yale College and president of the National Academy of Sciences 1 He was one of the preeminent scientists in the field of paleontology Among his legacies are the discovery or description of dozens of new species and theories on the origins of birds Othniel Charles MarshPortrait of Marsh c 1865 1880Born 1831 10 29 October 29 1831Lockport New York U S DiedMarch 18 1899 1899 03 18 aged 67 New Haven Connecticut U S CitizenshipAmericanAlma materYale College BA MA University of BerlinHeidelberg UniversityUniversity of BreslauKnown forBone WarsAwardsBigsby Medal 1877 Scientific careerFieldsPaleontologyInstitutionsYale UniversitySignatureMarsh s house Yale University New Haven Connecticut Born into a modest family Marsh was able to afford higher education thanks to the generosity of his wealthy uncle George Peabody After graduating from Yale College in 1860 he travelled the world studying anatomy mineralogy and geology He obtained a teaching position at Yale upon his return From the 1870s to 1890s he competed with rival paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in a period of frenzied Western American expeditions known as the Bone Wars Marsh s greatest legacy is the collection of Mesozoic reptiles Cretaceous birds and Mesozoic and Tertiary mammals that now constitute the backbone of the collections of Yale s Peabody Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution 2 Marsh has been called both a superb paleontologist and the greatest proponent of Darwinism in nineteenth century America 3 Contents 1 Biography 1 1 Early life 1 2 Career 1 3 Death 2 Bone Wars 3 Legacy 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksBiography editEarly life edit Marsh was born October 29 1831 in Lockport New York United States to a family of modest means His father Caleb Marsh was a farmer His mother Mary Gaines Peabody was the younger sister of wealthy banker and philanthropist George Peabody and died of cholera when Marsh was less than three years old 4 12 The financial backing of his uncle allowed Marsh to obtain a formal education 5 He graduated from Phillips Academy Andover in 1856 and Yale College with his bachelor of arts degree with honors in 1860 4 13 6 Marsh received a Berkeley Scholarship from Yale and studied geology mineralogy and chemistry at Yale s Sheffield Scientific School from 1860 to 1862 earning an MA in 1863 4 13 He next studied paleontology and anatomy in Berlin Heidelberg and Breslau from 1862 to 1865 7 On his return to the United States in 1866 he was appointed professor of vertebrate paleontology at Yale University making him the first professor of paleontology in the United States 4 13 The same year the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale was founded with a donation of US 150 000 from George Peabody on Marsh s suggestion 5 Marsh served as a trustee of the Peabody Museum and was one of its three original curators 4 10 nbsp Brontosaurus excelsus in the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History Found in 1879 at Como Bluff Wyoming Career edit After receiving an inheritance of US 100 000 from his uncle George Peabody 4 13 Marsh and his many fossil hunters were able to uncover about 500 new species of fossil animals which were all named later by Marsh himself in the almost 400 scientific articles he published during his career 4 13 In May 1871 Marsh uncovered the first pterosaur fossils found in America He also described early horses flying reptiles Cretaceous and Jurassic dinosaurs such as Triceratops Stegosaurus 4 13 Brontosaurus 4 13 Apatosaurus and Allosaurus 4 13 and described the toothed birds of the Cretaceous Ichthyornis 8 and Hesperornis 9 Marsh discovered fossils showing the evolution of the horse It was the ability to document Darwin s theory of evolution through the fossil record that made Marsh s efforts so significant Marsh more than anyone produced the physical evidence to support Darwin s work In 1876 English biologist and anthropologist Thomas Henry Huxley visited Marsh Huxley s views on evolution were initially quite different from those of Marsh However Marsh showed him his collection of fossils and explained his conclusions Huxley changed his opinions to match those of Marsh and made them the basis of his famous New York lecture on the horse 10 11 In 1868 Marsh was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society 12 In November 1874 Marsh arrived at the Red Cloud Agency during a fossil collecting expedition to the White River Badlands Besides collecting two tons of fossils Marsh verified Red Cloud s charges of the agency s continued mismanagement and fraud despite the 1871 Board of Indian Commissioners discovery of widespread cheating Marsh promised to take Red Cloud s complaints back to Washington Another commission investigated and wrote in their report they fully sustain the allegations of Prof Marsh This resulted in several government official s resignations Marsh received praise from George Custer for exposing the well known frauds and irregularities of the Indian ring while Red Cloud stated Marsh told the Great Father everything just as he promised he would and I think he is the best white man I ever saw 13 Marsh began uncovering a vast array of Jurassic specimens in 1877 in the Morrison Formation near Morrison Colorado in what is now known as Dinosaur Ridge Later that year he learned of the fossils at Como Bluff Wyoming and his workers there produced more astounding results continuing until 1889 Marsh s men also excavated near Canon City Colorado and in the Denver Beds of the Lance Formation The Morrison workers sent back 230 large boxes of bones to Marsh at Yale His Canon City workers sent back 270 boxes and 480 boxes were sent from Como Bluff Marsh biographer Charles Schuchert referred to this as truly the richest harvest of dinosaurs ever garnered by a single paleontologist 14 Marsh s work with early mammals is also quite significant In early 1878 Marsh was ecstatic to find that one of his men at Como Bluff had found a mammal fossil from the Jurassic period This led to further discoveries which increased the knowledge of Jurassic mammals exponentially Marsh was able to describe new genera and species in every major mammalian group 15 In 1880 Marsh caught the attention of the scientific world with the publication of Odontornithes a Monograph on Extinct Birds of North America which included his discoveries of birds with teeth These skeletons helped bridge the gap between dinosaurs and birds and provided invaluable support for Darwin s theory of evolution 16 Darwin wrote to Marsh saying Your work on these old birds amp on the many fossil animals of N America has afforded the best support to the theory of evolution which has appeared within the last 20 years since Darwin s publication of Origin of Species 17 18 nbsp Hesperornis regalis a species of ancient flightless bird with teeth as drawn by Othniel Marsh and published in his book Odontornithes A Monograph on the Extinct Toothed Birds of North America Marsh served as Vertebrate Paleontologist of the U S Geological Survey from 1882 to 1892 5 Thanks to John Wesley Powell head of the USGS and Marsh s contacts in Washington Marsh was placed at the head of the consolidated government survey in the late 1880s 19 Between 1883 and 1895 Marsh was President of the National Academy of Sciences 5 The pinnacle of Marsh s work with dinosaurs came in 1896 with the publication of his two quartos Dinosaurs of North America and Vertebrate Fossils which demonstrated his unsurpassed knowledge of the subject 20 On December 13 1897 Marsh received the Cuvier Prize of 1 500 francs from the French Academy of Science 21 Death edit Marsh died on March 18 1899 a few years after his great rival Cope 6 He was interred at the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven Connecticut Bone Wars editMain article Bone Wars Marsh is also known for the so called Bone Wars waged against Edward Drinker Cope The two men were fiercely competitive discovering and documenting more than 120 new species of dinosaurs between them 4 14 In the winter of 1863 Marsh first met Cope while in Berlin Marsh age thirty two was attending the University of Berlin He held two university degrees in comparison to Cope s lack of formal schooling past sixteen but Cope had written 37 scientific papers in comparison to Marsh s two published works While they would later become rivals on meeting the two men appeared to take a liking to each other Marsh led Cope on a tour of the city and they stayed together for days After Cope left Berlin the two maintained correspondence exchanging manuscripts fossils and photographs 22 11 Cope named Colosteus marshii for Marsh in 1867 and Marsh returned the favor naming Mosasaurus copeanus for Cope in 1869 4 15 In 1868 Marsh visited Cope in Haddonfield New Jersey Cope had been recovering fossils from the quarries since 1866 including those of Laelaps aquilungis which he described as a new species Before he departed Marsh contracted the owners of several marl pits to send any newly discovered fossils to him and not to Cope 4 15 23 35 The two began to develop a rivalry when Cope allegedly found out about Marsh s bribery and it was taken to the American west when Marsh and Cope began their competition over Eocene mammals in Wyoming 24 The conflict would last until the pair died with the conflict eventually focusing on the discovery of dinosaurs and ancestral mammals 25 According to Peter Dodson Each man in his own right has left a legacy and each was a distinguished researcher But really it seems impossible to say one name without the other Cope and Marsh Marsh s names for three dinosaur groups and nineteen genera have survived and though only three of Cope s named genera are still in use he published a record 1400 scientific papers 13 381 382 Legacy editSee also Category Taxa named by Othniel Charles Marsh Marsh named the following dinosaur genera Allosaurus 1877 Ammosaurus 1890 Anchisaurus 1885 Apatornis 1873 Apatosaurus 1877 Atlantosaurus 1877 Barosaurus 1890 Brontosaurus 1879 Camptosaurus 1885 Ceratops 1888 Ceratosaurus 1884 Claosaurus 1890 Coelurus 1879 Coniornis 1893 Creosaurus 1878 Diplodocus 1878 Diracodon 1881 Dryosaurus 1894 Dryptosaurus 1877 Hesperornis 1872 Ichthyornis 1873 Labrosaurus 1896 Laosaurus 1878 Lestornis 1876 Nanosaurus 1877 Nodosaurus 1889 Ornithomimus 1890 Pleurocoelus 1891 Priconodon 1888 Stegosaurus 1877 Torosaurus 1891 Triceratops 1889 nbsp Othniel Marsh center back row and assistants ready for digging in 1872He named the suborders Ceratopsia 1890 Ceratosauria 1884 Ornithopoda 1881 Stegosauria 1877 and Theropoda 1881 He also named the families Allosauridae 1878 Anchisauridae 1885 Camptosauridae 1885 Ceratopsidae 1890 Ceratosauridae Coeluridae Diplodocidae 1884 Dryptosauridae 1890 Nodosauridae 1890 Ornithomimidae 1890 Plateosauridae 1895 and Stegosauridae 1880 Marsh dubbed many additional species of dinosaur as well notable taxa including Allosaurus fragilis Triceratops horridus Stegosaurus stenops Ornithomimus velox and Brontosaurus excelsus Dinosaurs named by others in honour of Marsh include Hoplitosaurus marshi Lucas 1901 Iaceornis marshi Clarke 2004 Marshosaurus Madsen 1976 Othnielia Galton 1977 and Othnielosaurus Galton 2007 Marsh s finds formed the original core of the collection of Yale s Peabody Museum of Natural History The museum s Great Hall is dominated by the first fossil skeleton of Brontosaurus that he discovered which was reclassified as Apatosaurus for a time However an extensive study published in 2015 concluded that Brontosaurus was a valid genus of sauropod distinct from Apatosaurus 26 27 28 Some other Marsh taxa like Camarasaurus lentus Nanosaurus agilis and Camptosaurus dispar are also represented in the Peabody fossil hall He donated his home in New Haven Connecticut to Yale University in 1899 The Othniel C Marsh House now known as Marsh Hall is designated a National Historic Landmark Marsh Hall serves as the home of the Yale School of Forestry at the Yale School of the Environment The grounds are now known as the Marsh Botanical Garden Marsh was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1877 29 Marsh formulated the Law of brain growth which states that during the tertiary period many taxonomic groups presented gradual increase in the size of the brain This evolutionary law remains being used due to its explanatory and to a certain extent predictive potential 30 Prior to Marsh s efforts the entirety of fossil remains known in North America was quite small As a result of the generosity of George Peabody Marsh was able to keep discovery teams in the field almost continuously from 1870 until his death The material recovered in his 30 years of collection was simply astonishing to the scientific community At the Peabody Museum Marsh was the first to create skeletal displays of dinosaurs which are now common in countless museums of natural history 31 Marsh biographer Mark J McCarren summed it up this way Marsh s contributions to the understanding of extinct reptiles birds and mammals are unequaled in the history of paleontology 32 Marsh Butte located in the Grand Canyon was officially named in his honor in 1906 See also editDinosaur WarsReferences edit Othniel Charles Marsh Scientific American 54 18 279 281 May 1886 doi 10 1038 scientificamerican05011886 279 Tuna Cari 26 January 2005 In fossils Marsh s legacy lives on Yale Daily News Retrieved 26 January 2005 McCarren Mark J The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh p 1 Peabody Museum of Natural History Yale University New Haven Connecticut 1993 ISBN 0 912532 32 7 a b c d e f g h i j k l m Dingus Lowell 2018 King of the Dinosaur Hunters The life of John Bell Hatcher and the discoveries that shaped paleontology Pegasus Books ISBN 9781681778655 a b c d Othniel Charles Marsh Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History 2017 Retrieved 2017 07 27 a b Professor Marsh is Dead The World Famous Geologist Succumbs to Pneumonia Chair of Paleontology Founded for Him Caused the Establishment of Peabody Museum New York Times March 19 1899 Retrieved 2010 07 28 Othniel C Marsh M A Ph D LL D professor of paleontology at Yale University curator of the geological collection at the same institution Rines George Edwin ed 1920 Marsh Othniel Charles Encyclopedia Americana Marsh O C 1872 Notice of a new and remarkable fossil bird American Journal of Science Series 3 4 22 344 Marsh O C 1872 Discovery of a new and remarkable fossil bird American Journal of Science Series 3 3 3 57 Plate Robert The Dinosaur Hunters Othniel C Marsh and Edward D Cope pp 204 5 David McKay Company Inc New York New York 1964 McCarren Mark J The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh pp 44 6 52 3 Peabody Museum of Natural History Yale University New Haven Connecticut 1993 ISBN 0 912532 32 7 APS Member History search amphilsoc org Retrieved 2021 04 26 a b Jaffe Mark 2000 The Gilded Dinosaur The Fossil War between E D Cope and O C Marsh and the Rise of American Science New York Three Rivers Press pp 112 143 ISBN 9780609807057 McCarren Mark J The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh p 7 8 Peabody Museum of Natural History Yale University New Haven Connecticut 1993 ISBN 0 912532 32 7 McCarren Mark J The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh pp 19 21 Peabody Museum of Natural History Yale University New Haven Connecticut 1993 ISBN 0 912532 32 7 McCarren Mark J The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh pp 16 17 Peabody Museum of Natural History Yale University New Haven Connecticut 1993 ISBN 0 912532 32 7 Plate Robert The Dinosaur Hunters Othniel C Marsh and Edward D Cope pp 210 11 David McKay Company Inc New York New York 1964 Cianfaglione Paul O C Marsh Odontornithes Monograph Still Relevant Today 20 Jul 2016 Avian Musings going beyond the field mark Wallace David Rains 1999 The Bonehunters Revenge Dinosaurs Greed and the Greatest Scientific Feud of the Gilded Age Houghton Mifflin Books pp 175 179 ISBN 0 618 08240 9 McCarren Mark J The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh p 11 Peabody Museum of Natural History Yale University New Haven Connecticut 1993 ISBN 0 912532 32 7 Minor Paragraphs Popular Science Monthly 574 Feb 1898 Retrieved 13 May 2013 Jaffe Mark 2000 The Gilded Dinosaur The Fossil War Between E D Cope and O C Marsh and the Rise of American Science New York Crown Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 517 70760 9 Gallagher William B 1997 When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey New Brunswick Rutgers University Press ISBN 978 0 8135 2349 1 Wheeler W H 1960 The Uintatheres and the Cope Marsh War This feud is an interesting but unfortunate part of the history of science in 19th century America Science 131 3408 1171 1176 Ernissee J J 2003 Bone Wars The Excavation and Celebrity of Andrew Carnegie s Dinosaur Rocks and Minerals 78 4 279 Tschopp E Mateus O V Benson R B J 2015 A specimen level phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Diplodocidae Dinosauria Sauropoda PeerJ 3 e857 doi 10 7717 peerj 857 PMC 4393826 PMID 25870766 nbsp Gorman James 7 April 2015 A Prehistoric Giant Is Revived if Only in Name New York Times Retrieved 7 April 2015 Choi Charles The Brontosaurus Is Back Scientific American MemberListM Faria Felipe 2017 Marsh s law of brain growth and the idea of biological progress in evolution Scientiae Studia 15 2 387 410 doi 10 11606 51678 31662017000200009 McCarren Mark J The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh pp 2 8 9 Peabody Museum of Natural History Yale University New Haven Connecticut 1993 ISBN 0 912532 32 7 McCarren Mark J The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh p 55 Peabody Museum of Natural History Yale University New Haven Connecticut 1993 ISBN 0 912532 32 7 Further reading editUniversity of California Museum of Paleontology Othniel Charles Marsh 1832 1899 UC Berkeley Retrieved 2007 03 07 Othniel Charles Marsh 1831 1899 Lefalophodon National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis Archived from the original on 2007 02 07 Retrieved 2007 03 07 The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh Birds Bones and Brontotheres Peabody Museum of Natural History Special Publication No 15 Paperback by Mark J McCarren Jaffe Mark 2000 The Gilded Dinosaur The Fossil War Between E D Cope and O C Marsh and the Rise of American Science New York Crown Publishing Group ISBN 0 517 70760 8 Lanham Url 1973 The Bone Hunters New York and London Columbia University Press ISBN 0 231 03152 1 Wilford John Noble 1985 The Riddle of the Dinosaur New York Knopf Publishing ISBN 0 394 74392 X External links edit nbsp Wikisource has original works by or about Othniel Charles Marsh nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Othniel Charles Marsh Works by or about Othniel Charles Marsh at Internet Archive Dinosaur Wars American Experience 2011 01 17 PBS O C Marsh Papers marsh dinodb com View works by Othniel Charles Marsh online at the Biodiversity Heritage Library National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir Scientist of the Day Othniel Charles Marsh at Linda Hall Library Othneil Charles Marsh papers MS 343 Manuscripts and Archives Yale University Library 1 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Othniel Charles Marsh amp oldid 1187035045, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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