MARSH, OTHNIEL CHARLES

born Oct. 29, 1831, Lockport, N.Y., U.S. died March 18, 1899, New Haven, Conn. U.S. paleontologist who made extensive scientific explorations of the western U.S. and contributed greatly to knowledge of extinct North American vertebrates. Marsh spent his entire career at Yale University (186699) as the first professor of vertebrate paleontology in the U.S. In 1870 he organized the first Yale Scientific Expedition, which explored the Pliocene (from 2,500,000 to 7,000,000 years ago) deposits of Nebraska and the Miocene (from 7,000,000 to 26,000,000 years ago) deposits of northern Colorado. Marsh continued to sponsor similar parties nearly every year thereafter until his death. In 1871 his party discovered the first pterodactyl (a flying reptile) found in the U.S. In 1882 he was placed in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey's work in vertebrate paleontology, aggravating a fierce rivalry that existed between him and the U.S. paleontologist Edward Cope. Credited with the discovery of more than a thousand fossil vertebrates and the description of at least 500 more, Marsh published major works on toothed birds, gigantic horned mammals, and North American dinosaurs. He also wrote Fossil Horses in America (1874) and Introduction and Succession of Vertebrate Life in America (1877).