Home > Othniel Charles Marsh

Marsh was born in Lockport, New York. He graduated at Yale College in 1860, and studied geology and mineralogy in the Sheffield scientific school, New Haven, and afterwards palaeontology and anatomy in Berlin, Heidelberg and Breslau. He returned to the United States in 1866 and was appointed professor of vertebrate paleontology at Yale UniversityYale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third oldest American collegiate institution (or fourth, if St. John's College, Annapolis is included) and one of the most prestigious in the world. The Univer. He persuaded his uncle, George PeabodyThis article is about George Peabody, a dry goods merchant and philanthropist in the northern United States, founder of the Peabody Institute. For information about George Peabody, the banker and philanthropist in the southern United States associated wit, to establish the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale.

In May 1871 Marsh found the first American pterosaurPterosaur s ("winged lizards") were flying reptiles of the clade Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the Cretaceous periods (from 228 to 65 million years ago). The earlier species had long, fully-toothed jaws and long tails, while later fo fossils. He also discovered the remains of early horseThis article discusses ungulate mammals. For other meanings of horse see Horse (disambiguation). The Horse Equus caballus is a large ungulate mammal, one of the seven modern species of the genus Equus''. It has long played an important role in transportats. Marsh described the remains of CretaceousThe Cretaceous period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, reaching from the end of the Jurassic period (about 135 mya) to the beginning of the Paleocene epoch of the Tertiary period (65 mya). The end of the Cretaceous also defines the toothed birds (such as Ichthyornis and Hesperornis) and flying reptiles, and Cretaceous and JurassicThe Jurassic period is a major unit of the geologic timescale that extends from about 135 million years BP at the end of the Triassic to 195 million years BP at the beginning of the Cretaceous. As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the dinosaurs, including ApatosaurusApatosaurus excelsius ''Apatosaurus ajax ''Apatosaurus louisae ''Apatosaurus yahnahpin Animals of the genus Apatosaurus ( Jurassic period, about 140 million years ago) were Sauropod dinosaurs, some of the largest land animals that ever existed, about 4. and AllosaurusAllosaurus fragilis Jurassic 140 million years) was a large theropod carnivorous dinosaur with a length of up to 12 meters. Allosaurus is a classic big theropod: a big skull on a short neck, a long tail, and reduced forelimbs. Its most distinctive feature.

Marsh is famous for his "palaeontological battle", the so-called Bone Wars, with Edward Drinker Cope during the late 19th century. The two men were fierce rivals in the discovery of palaeontological specimens, discovering and describing over 120 new species of dinosaur between them.

Marsh is interred at the Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, Connecticut.