AmericaBoth Othniel Marsh and Edward Cope discovered countless dinosaur fossils in the 19th century but were obsessed with the goal of taking each other down in the Bone Wars.
Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope were two of the most famous bone hunters of the 19th century, according to National Geographic. They discovered more than 100 dinosaurs, including Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Lystrosaurus in the early days of paleontology. Their bone war resulted in many scientific discoveries that helped shape the field of paleontology. Even though they are both famous and successful, they absolutely hate each other. Their hatred fueled all-out war and they used every tactic to secretly defeat each other, including bribery, deception and defamation.
Before becoming sworn enemies, Marsh and Cope were friends. Othniel Marsh was born in New York in 1831 into a modest family. However, his uncle George Peabody was a wealthy businessman who sponsored his nephew’s education. Outstanding young scientist graduated from Yale University. In contrast, Edward Cope was born in 1840 in complete material conditions. The Cope family was very wealthy and had a place in Philadelphia. The only problem he faced was escaping the direction his family had planned for him. Cope’s father wanted him to be a gentleman landowner, but he wanted to be a scientist.
In 1863, Cope’s father took him to Europe. In Berlin, he befriended a rising star in the field of natural sciences, Othniel Marsh. As young American scholars abroad, they bonded over a shared interest in paleontology, the relatively young academic field focused on the study of ancient fossils. After returning to America, the two exchanged letters and even named newly discovered species after each other. Cope named one species Ptyonius marshii while Marsh named the species he found Mosasaurus copeanus.
However, there is one key problem. The field of paleontology was still young, and its newness sparked a rivalry between Marsh and Cope as they sought to become leading researchers in the field. The race to assert themselves in the industry causes them to become distant. Some scholars believe their feud began in 1868 when Marsh visited Cope on a fossil-finding expedition in a New Jersey quarry. Marsh secretly made a deal with the quarry owner to have the new fossil shipped to him instead of Cope.
Cope’s biographer Jane Davidson suggests that the feud arose the same year that Cope published his description of the newly discovered species Elasmosaurus platyurus. While reconstructing the animal, Cope made a serious mistake by placing the animal’s tail and neck upside down. Marsh called Cope and criticized his colleague’s mistake. Mocked, Cope rushed to buy back copies of the magazine announcing the discovery but it was too late.
The American West is fertile ground for discovering prehistoric fossils, but not big enough for two men. They feverishly searched for fossils and made greater discoveries than their competitors. In 1871, Cope reached a location in Kansas that Marsh’s group had previously overlooked. He found the skeleton of an ancient pterosaur that was larger than the one Marsh discovered. Cope was delighted and Marsh was indignant.
As the war intensified, Marsh and Cope sought other means to undermine each other, including accusations of plagiarism, snooping, and publishing more. Cope even bought American Naturalist magazine, using it as a forum to criticize Marsh and his research. The feud escalated when the two took their associates to a digging site in Como Bluff, Wyoming, between 1877 and 1879. Marsh even directed his associates to destroy any bones in the area before leaving. Go so Cope can’t get it.
The scientific battle between two experts in paleontology lasted a decade. However, the feud between Marsh and Cope contributed to increasing people’s understanding of the world, promoting their research. Cope is the author of 1,400 scientific articles. His and Marsh’s efforts helped identify more than 130 extinct species. But the war also cost them dearly. In 1892, Marsh’s superiors at the US Geological Survey asked him to resign. Cope eventually had to sell his fossil collection a few years before his death in 1897. The bone war destroyed both men.