Edwin Harris Colbert

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Edwin Harris Colbert (born September 28, 1905 in Clarinda , Iowa , † November 16, 2001 in Flagstaff , Arizona ) was a well-known American vertebrate paleontologist, a recognized authority on the field of dinosaurs and a prolific researcher and author.

Life

Colbert received his bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska and received his masters and 1935 Ph.D. from Columbia University . Among other things, he held the position of curator of vertebrate paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History and was emeritus of vertebrate paleontology at Columbia University. After retiring in 1970, he became a curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Museum of Northern Arizona. Henry Fairfield Osborn was one of his friends .

Numerous descriptions of new taxa go back to him, including Staurikosaurus , Gaindatherium , and Scutellosaurus . In 1947 he discovered a site with twelve specimens of the small Triassic dinosaur Coelophysis on the Ghost Ranch in New Mexico . In 2006, the student Sterling Nesbitt found fossils of Effigia okeeffeae , which belongs to the Poposauroidea , in the blocks he had recovered from there . He was also the author of various systematic revisions, such as the phylogeny of Ceratopsia .

His field work in Antarctica in 1969/70 provided support for the theory of continental drift (fossils of Lystrosaurus were also known from the Permian and Triassic of India and South Africa) and its popularity with the discovery of Lystrosaurus in the Colbert Hills on this continent, which is named after him as well as his books on dinosaurs, paleontology and stratigraphy (with Marshall Kay ) introduced a generation of scientists and enthusiastic amateurs to his field of research.

Colbert has received numerous awards and honors for his achievements as a scientist, including the Romer-Simpson Medal of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology , of which he was an honorary member (1973). In 1957 Colbert was elected to the National Academy of Sciences , which had awarded him the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal in 1935 . The Edwin H. and Margaret M. Colbert Award is named after him and his wife Margaret , which is awarded by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology for outstanding poster presentations by students.

The Colbert Hills in Antarctica are named after him.

Works

  • 1947 Dinosaurs , American Museum of Natural History
  • 1951: The dinosaur book: the ruling reptiles and their relatives , 2nd edition, American Museum of Natural History, New York
  • 1961: Dinosaurs. Their discovery and their world , New York: Dutton
  • 1965: Stratigraphy and Life History . Wiley, New York, 1965 (with George Marshall Kay)
  • 1968: Men and dinosaurs; the search in field and laboratory , New York: Dutton
  • 1969: Getting acquainted with science , Chicago: G. Ferguson 1969
  • 1977: Dinosaur World , New York: Stravon Educational Press, ISBN 978-0-873-96081-6
  • 1980: Evolution of the vertebrates: a history of the backboned animals through time , Wiley, 3rd edition (first 1955)
  • 1984: The Great Dinosaur Hunters and Their Discoveries. ISBN 978-0-486-24701-4
  • 1989: Digging into the Past: An Autobiography , New York: Dembner Books, ISBN 978-0-942-63708-3
  • 1983: Dinosaurs: An Illustrated History , Maplewood / New Jersey: Hammond, ISBN 978-0-843-73332-7
  • 1985: Wandering Lands and Animals: The Story of Continental Drift and Animal Populations , Dover (first Dutton 1973), ISBN 978-0-486-24918-6
  • 1995: The Little Dinosaurs of Ghost Ranch , Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-08236-5
  • 1997: Age of Reptiles , Dover (first Norton 1965), ISBN 978-0-486-29377-6
  • 1980: Fossil-Hunter's Notebook: My Life with Dinosaurs and Other Friends , New York: Dutton, ISBN 978-0-525-10772-9 (with Elias Colbert)
  • 2001: Colbert's Evolution of the Vertebrates: A History of the Backboned Animals Through Time. ISBN 978-0-471-38461-8 (with Eli C. Minkoff & Michael Morales)

Web links and references

personal data
SURNAME Colbert, Edwin Harris
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Colbert, Edwin H.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American vertebrate paleontologist
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Clarinda , Iowa
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 2001
Place of death Flagstaff , Arizona