Contribution of E.D. Cope and O.Ch. March to the development of paleontological science

Abstract

The history of paleontology is full of interesting episodes related to the discovery of fossils. For example, two paleontologists, Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, competed for leadership in the profession. When the two scientists first met, their relationship was even friendly, but it was complicated by their difficult personalities.

Cope and Marsh came from very different backgrounds. Cope was born into a wealthy and influential Quaker family in Philadelphia. Marsh grew up in a poor family in Lockport, New York, if not for his uncle, the philanthropist George Peabody. Marsh convinced his uncle to build the Peabody Museum of Natural History, and Marsh was appointed chairman of the museum. The expeditions they financed provided them with a large number of fossil bones and fossils. From 1877 to 1892, paleontologists used their wealth and influence to finance their own expeditions and pay fossil hunters to buy up dinosaur bones. One of the most important expeditions was to Como Bluff, where they collected a large collection of dinosaur remains.

During their long career, the two scientists discovered and described more than 136 new species of dinosaurs. Cope published more than 1,400 scientific articles in less than 40 years of work as a scientist, very few scientists can repeat this result. Marsh’s findings also formed the original core of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History collection. By the end of the Bone Wars, both scientists had exhausted their means in their quest for paleontological superiority. The competition between them led to a rapid increase in interest in fossils and paleontology, although this competition also used unfair methods such as bribing fossil sellers, luring employees and trying to slander one’s competitor.