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Edwin H. Colbert
Edwin Harris "Ned" Colbert (September 28, 1905 – November 15, 2001) was a distinguished American vertebrate paleontologist and prolific researcher and author.
Born in Clarinda, Iowa, he grew up in Maryville, Missouri and graduated from Maryville High School. He received his A.B. from the University of Nebraska, then his Masters and Ph.D. from Columbia University, finishing in 1935. He married Margaret Matthew, daughter of the eminent paleontologist William Diller Matthew, in 1933. She became a noted artist, illustrator, and sculptor who specialized in visualizing extinct species.
Among the positions Colbert held was Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History for 40 years, and Professor Emeritus of Vertebrate Paleontology at Columbia University. He was a protégé of Henry Fairfield Osborn, and a foremost authority on the Dinosauria.
For his thesis, Siwalik Mammals in the American Museum of Natural History, Colbert was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 1935. He described dozens of new taxa and authored major systematic reviews, including the discovery of more than a dozen complete skeletons of a primitive small Triassic dinosaur, Coelophysis at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, in 1947 (one of the largest concentrations of dinosaur deposits ever recorded), publication of their description, and a review of ceratopsian phylogeny.
His fieldwork in Antarctica in 1969 helped solidify the acceptance of continental drift with the discovery of a 220-million-year-old fossil of a Lystrosaurus. He was also the first person to name the Staurikosaurus. His popularity and his textbooks on dinosaurs, paleontology, and stratigraphy (with Marshall Kay) introduced a new generation of scientists and amateur enthusiasts to the subject. He was the recipient of numerous prizes and awards commemorating his many achievements in the field of science.
He retired from the AMNH in 1970 and became a curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Arizona. He died at his home in Flagstaff in 2001.
Colbert was born on September 28, 1905 in Clarinda, Iowa to Mary Adamson Colbert and George Harris Colbert, the youngest of their three sons. His father was a school superintendent in Page County, Iowa before being appointed as a mathematics professor at the newly established Northwest Missouri State University in 1906. Colbert grew up in Maryville, Missouri, where he worked as a paperboy and reporter for the town's Democrat-Forum newspaper. He also participated in the Boy Scouts, and became interested in fossils at an early age, collecting shells and corals from nearby creeks.
Colbert attended Maryville High School and graduated in 1923. After graduating, he briefly attended Northwest Missouri State University, but was disinterested in the school's teacher-training program. In the summers, he worked for the United States Forest Service, building trails at Arapaho National Forest. While visiting his brother Phil, an engineer at the University of Nebraska, Colbert visited the University of Nebraska State Museum, which sparked his interest in paleontology and geology. After an interview with Erwin Barbour, the museum's director, Colbert transferred to the University of Nebraska in the fall of 1926, also taking on an assistantship at the museum.
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Edwin H. Colbert
Edwin Harris "Ned" Colbert (September 28, 1905 – November 15, 2001) was a distinguished American vertebrate paleontologist and prolific researcher and author.
Born in Clarinda, Iowa, he grew up in Maryville, Missouri and graduated from Maryville High School. He received his A.B. from the University of Nebraska, then his Masters and Ph.D. from Columbia University, finishing in 1935. He married Margaret Matthew, daughter of the eminent paleontologist William Diller Matthew, in 1933. She became a noted artist, illustrator, and sculptor who specialized in visualizing extinct species.
Among the positions Colbert held was Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History for 40 years, and Professor Emeritus of Vertebrate Paleontology at Columbia University. He was a protégé of Henry Fairfield Osborn, and a foremost authority on the Dinosauria.
For his thesis, Siwalik Mammals in the American Museum of Natural History, Colbert was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 1935. He described dozens of new taxa and authored major systematic reviews, including the discovery of more than a dozen complete skeletons of a primitive small Triassic dinosaur, Coelophysis at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, in 1947 (one of the largest concentrations of dinosaur deposits ever recorded), publication of their description, and a review of ceratopsian phylogeny.
His fieldwork in Antarctica in 1969 helped solidify the acceptance of continental drift with the discovery of a 220-million-year-old fossil of a Lystrosaurus. He was also the first person to name the Staurikosaurus. His popularity and his textbooks on dinosaurs, paleontology, and stratigraphy (with Marshall Kay) introduced a new generation of scientists and amateur enthusiasts to the subject. He was the recipient of numerous prizes and awards commemorating his many achievements in the field of science.
He retired from the AMNH in 1970 and became a curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Arizona. He died at his home in Flagstaff in 2001.
Colbert was born on September 28, 1905 in Clarinda, Iowa to Mary Adamson Colbert and George Harris Colbert, the youngest of their three sons. His father was a school superintendent in Page County, Iowa before being appointed as a mathematics professor at the newly established Northwest Missouri State University in 1906. Colbert grew up in Maryville, Missouri, where he worked as a paperboy and reporter for the town's Democrat-Forum newspaper. He also participated in the Boy Scouts, and became interested in fossils at an early age, collecting shells and corals from nearby creeks.
Colbert attended Maryville High School and graduated in 1923. After graduating, he briefly attended Northwest Missouri State University, but was disinterested in the school's teacher-training program. In the summers, he worked for the United States Forest Service, building trails at Arapaho National Forest. While visiting his brother Phil, an engineer at the University of Nebraska, Colbert visited the University of Nebraska State Museum, which sparked his interest in paleontology and geology. After an interview with Erwin Barbour, the museum's director, Colbert transferred to the University of Nebraska in the fall of 1926, also taking on an assistantship at the museum.