Othniel Charles Marsh was an American paleontologist. Marsh was one of the preeminent scientists in the field; the discovery or description of dozens of news species and theories on the origins of birds are among his legacies.

Born into a modest family, Marsh was able to afford higher education thanks to the generosity of his wealthy uncle George Peabody

George Peabody

George Peabody was an American-British entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Peabody Trust in Britain and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, and was responsible for many other charitable initiatives.-Biography:...

. After graduating from Yale College

Yale College

Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...

 in 1860 he traveled 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

Edward Drinker Cope

Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen...

 in a period of frenzied Western American prospecting now known as the Bone Wars

Bone Wars

The Bone Wars, also known as the "Great Dinosaur Rush", refers to a period of intense fossil speculation and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh...

.

In later years Marsh suffered from financial troubles. He died on March 18, 1899.

Early life

Marsh was born in Lockport

Lockport (city), New York

Lockport is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 21,165 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a set of Erie canal locks within the city. Lockport is the county seat of Niagara County and is surrounded by the town of Lockport...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, to a family of modest means. However, he was the nephew of the very wealthy banker and philanthropist, George Peabody

George Peabody

George Peabody was an American-British entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Peabody Trust in Britain and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, and was responsible for many other charitable initiatives.-Biography:...

. He graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover in 1856 and Yale College

Yale College

Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...

 in 1860. He later studied geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 and mineralogy

Mineralogy

Mineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...

 in the Sheffield Scientific School

Sheffield Scientific School

Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, the railroad executive. The school was...

, New Haven, and afterwards paleontology and anatomy

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

 in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Heidelberg

Heidelberg

-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

 and Breslau. He returned to the United States in 1866 and was appointed professor of vertebrate paleontology at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

. He persuaded his uncle George Peabody

George Peabody

George Peabody was an American-British entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Peabody Trust in Britain and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, and was responsible for many other charitable initiatives.-Biography:...

 to establish the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale.

Career

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 May 1871, Marsh uncovered the first pterosaur

Pterosaur

Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...

 fossils found in America. He also found early horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

s, flying reptiles, the Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

 and Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to  Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...

 dinosaurs; Apatosaurus

Apatosaurus

Apatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...

and Allosaurus

Allosaurus

Allosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros...

, and described the toothed birds of the Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

; Ichthyornis

Ichthyornis

Ichthyornis is a genus of toothed seabirds from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Its fossil remains are known from the chalks of Alberta, Alabama, Kansas, New Mexico, Saskatchewan, and Texas, in strata that were laid down in the Western Interior Seaway during the Turonian-Campanian ages,...

and Hesperornis

Hesperornis

Hesperornis is a genus of flightless aquatic birds that spanned the first half of the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous period . One of the lesser-known discoveries of the paleontologist O. C. Marsh in the late 19th century Bone Wars, it was an important early find in the history of avian...

.

Marsh is also known for the so-called "Bone Wars

Bone Wars

The Bone Wars, also known as the "Great Dinosaur Rush", refers to a period of intense fossil speculation and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh...

" waged against Edward Drinker Cope

Edward Drinker Cope

Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen...

. The two men were fiercely competitive, discovering and documenting more than 120 new species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

 between them. Marsh eventually won the Bone Wars by finding 80 new species of dinosaur, while Cope only found 56. Cope did not take this lightly, and the two fought within scientific journals for many years to come, rumored to be at the expense of recognized scientific method.

Death

Marsh died on March 18, 1899. He was interred at the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

.

Legacy

Marsh named the following dinosaur genera: Allosaurus

Allosaurus

Allosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros...

(1877), Ammosaurus

Ammosaurus

Ammosaurus is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early and Middle Jurassic Period of North America. At 4 meters in length, it was small compared to some other members of its suborder, which included the largest animals ever to walk the Earth...

(1890), Anchisaurus

Anchisaurus

Anchisaurus is a genus of basal sauropodomorph, and was an early herbivorous dinosaur. Until recently it was classed as a member of Prosauropoda. The name comes from the Greek αγχι/agkhi...

(1885), Apatosaurus

Apatosaurus

Apatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...

(1877), Atlantosaurus

Atlantosaurus

Atlantosaurus is a dubious genus of sauropod dinosaur. The type specimen, found by Arthur Lakes in the Morrison Formation of Colorado, USA, was described by Othniel Charles Marsh, a Professor of Paleontology at Yale University , in 1877 as "Titanosaurus" montanus...

(1877), Barosaurus

Barosaurus

Barosaurus ; Greek barys/βαρυς meaning 'heavy' and saurus/σαυρος meaning 'lizard', 'heavy lizard') was a giant, long-tailed, long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur closely related to the more familiar Diplodocus...

(1890), Camptosaurus

Camptosaurus

Camptosaurus is a genus of plant-eating, beaked ornithischian dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic period of western North America. The name means 'flexible lizard', ....

(1885), Ceratops

Ceratops

Ceratops is a dubious genus of ceratopsian dinosaur which lived during the Late Cretaceous. Its fossils have been found in Montana. Although poorly known, Ceratops is important in the history of dinosaurs, since it is the type species for which both Ceratopsia and Ceratopsidae are named...

(1888), Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus meaning "horned lizard", in reference to the horn on its nose , was a large predatory theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period , found in the Morrison Formation of North America, in Tanzania and Portugal...

(1884), Claosaurus

Claosaurus

Claosaurus is a genus of primitive hadrosaurid that lived during the Late Cretaceous Period .Evidence of its existence was first found near the Smoky Hill River in Kansas, USA in the form of partial skull fragments and as an articulated postcranial skeleton...

(1890), Coelurus

Coelurus

Coelurus is a genus of coelurosaur dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period . The name means "hollow tail", referring to its hollow tail vertebrae...

(1879), Creosaurus (1878), Diplodocus

Diplodocus

Diplodocus , or )is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek "double" and "beam", in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones...

(1878), Diracodon (1881), Dryosaurus

Dryosaurus

Dryosaurus is a genus of an ornithopod dinosaur that lived in the Late Jurassic period. It was an iguanodont . Fossils have been found in the western United States, and were first discovered in the late 19th century...

(1894), Dryptosaurus

Dryptosaurus

Dryptosaurus was a genus of primitive tyrannosaur that lived in Eastern North America during the middle Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous period. Although largely unknown now outside of academic circles, a famous painting of the genus by Charles R...

(1877), Labrosaurus (1896), Laosaurus

Laosaurus

Laosaurus is a genus of hypsilophodont dinosaur. The type species is Laosaurus celer, first described by O.C. Marsh in 1878 from remains from the Oxfordian-Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming. The validity of this genus is doubtful because it is based on fragmentary fossils...

(1878), Nanosaurus

Nanosaurus

Nanosaurus is the name given to a genus of dinosaur from the Late Jurassic. Described by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877, it is a poorly-known ornithischian of uncertain affinities. Its fossils are known from the Morrison Formation of Colorado and possibly Wyoming...

(1877), Nodosaurus

Nodosaurus

Nodosaurus was a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous, the fossils of which are found in North America. Two incomplete specimens have been discovered in Wyoming and Kansas, and no skulls...

(1889), Ornithomimus

Ornithomimus

Ornithomimus is a genus of ornithomimid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now North America.In 1890 Ornithomimus velox was named by Othniel Charles Marsh on the basis of a foot and partial hand from the Maastrichtian Denver Formation. Another seventeen species have been named since...

(1890), Pleurocoelus (1891), Pricondon (1888), Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus is a genus of armored stegosaurid dinosaur. They lived during the Late Jurassic period , some 155 to 150 million years ago in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well...

(1877), Torosaurus

Torosaurus

Torosaurus is a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur that lived during the late Cretaceous period , between 70 and 65 million years ago. It possessed one of the largest skulls of any known land animal. The frilled skull reached in length...

(1891), Triceratops

Triceratops

Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...

(1889), Tripriodon (1889).
He named the suborders Ceratopsia

Ceratopsia

Ceratopsia or Ceratopia is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs which thrived in what are now North America, Europe, and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurassic. The earliest known ceratopsian, Yinlong downsi, lived between 161.2 and 155.7...

 (1890), Ceratosauria

Ceratosauria

Ceratosaurs are members of a group of theropod dinosaurs defined as all theropods sharing a more recent common ancestry with Ceratosaurus than with birds. There is presently no universally agreed upon listing of species or diagnostic characters of Ceratosauria, though they were less derived...

 (1884), Ornithopoda (1881), Stegosauria

Stegosauria

Known colloquially as stegosaurs, the Stegosauria are a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous Periods, being found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America and China....

 (1877), and Theropoda

Theropoda

Theropoda is both a suborder of bipedal saurischian dinosaurs, and a clade consisting of that suborder and its descendants . Dinosaurs belonging to the suborder theropoda were primarily carnivorous, although a number of theropod groups evolved herbivory, omnivory, and insectivory...

. He also named the families Allosauridae (1878), Anchisauridae

Anchisauridae

The Anchisauridae were a group of early sauropodomorph dinosaurs first proposed by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1885. The clade consists of Anchisaurus and its nearest relatives. However, it is not clear which other genera are included in the family; many of the dinosaurs once included have since been...

 (1885), Camptosauridae (1885), Ceratopsidae

Ceratopsidae

Ceratopsidae is a speciose group of marginocephalian dinosaurs including Triceratops and Styracosaurus...

 (1890), Ceratosauridae

Ceratosauridae

Ceratosauridae is a family of theropod dinosaurs belonging to the infraorder Ceratosauria. Its type genus, Ceratosaurus, was first found in Jurassic rocks from North America. Ceratosauridae is made up of Ceratosaurus, found in North America, Tanzania, and Portugal, and Genyodectes, from the Late...

, Coeluridae

Coeluridae

Coeluridae is a historically polyphyletic family of generally small, carnivorous dinosaurs from the late Jurassic Period...

, Diplodocidae (1884), Dryptosauridae (1890), Nodosauridae

Nodosauridae

Nodosauridae is a family of ankylosaurian dinosaurs, from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous Period of what are now North America, Asia, Antarctica and Europe.-Characteristics:...

 (1890), Ornithomimidae (1890), Plateosauridae

Plateosauridae

Plateosauridae is a family of plateosaurian sauropodomorphs. Plateosaurids were early sauropodomorph dinosaurs which existed in Asia, Europe and South America during the Late Triassic period. Although several dinosaurs have been classified as plateosaurids over the years, a 2007 study by Adam M....

 (1895), and Stegosauridae

Stegosauridae

Stegosauridae is a family of stegosauria, large thyreophorans. They lived longer than other Stegosaurs; while all Huayangosauridae and most of basal stegosaurs died out in Tithonian - Kimmeridgian, stegosauridae survived till Middle Cretaceous. They are usually characterized by triangular plates on...

 (1880). He also named many individual species of dinosaurs.
The dinosaur Othnielia

Othnielia

Othnielia is a genus of ornithischian dinosaur, named after its original describer, Professor Othniel Charles Marsh, an American paleontologist of the 19th century...

was named in 1977 by P. Galton as a tribute to Marsh, as was Marshosaurus bicentesmus

Marshosaurus

Marshosaurus was a genus of medium sized theropod, with a size up to 5 or 6 meters in length and a skull about 60 cm long. It is known from parts of at least three individuals from the Morrison Formation of Utah and Colorado.The holotype is a left ilium, or upper pelvis bone found at the...

(Madsen, 1976).

Marsh's finds formed the original core of the collection of Yale's Peabody Museum. The museum's Great Hall is dominated by the first fossil skeleton of Apatosaurus that he discovered (but called "Brontosaurus").

He donated his home in New Haven, Connecticut, to Yale University in 1899. The Othniel C. Marsh House

Othniel C. Marsh House

Marsh Hall, formally known as Othniel C. Marsh House, is a historic house at 360 Prospect Street on Prospect Hill in New Haven, Connecticut. The property, which includes the house and a area, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965....

, now known as Marsh Hall, is designated a National Historic Landmark

National Historic Landmark

A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...

. The grounds are now known as the Marsh Botanical Garden

Marsh Botanical Garden

The Marsh Botanical Garden is a botanical garden, arboretum, and greenhouses located on the Yale University campus at 277 Mansfield Street, New Haven, Connecticut, USA....

.

Further reading

• 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

External links