Edwin Harris "Ned" Colbert (September 28, 1905 – November 15, 2001)O'Connor, Anahad

''

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'', November 25, 2001. was a distinguished American

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with ...

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

and prolific researcher and author. Born in Clarinda, Iowa, he grew up in Maryville, Missouri and graduated from Maryville High School. His father was George H. Colbert who was head of the mathematics department at

Northwest Missouri State University Northwest Missouri State University is a public university in Maryville, Missouri. It has an enrollment of about 8,505 students. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, its campus is based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis Worl ...

and had been at the college since its founding in 1906. He received his A.B. from the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

, then his Masters and Ph.D. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, 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. The couple had five sons together. The young family moved to

Leonia, New Jersey Leonia is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 8,937,American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 int ...

for 40 years, and

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of Vertebrate Paleontology at

. He was a protégé of Henry Fairfield Osborn, and a foremost authority on the Dinosauria. For his work, ''Siwalik Mammals in the American Museum of Natural History'', Colbert was awarded the

Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal The Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for meritorious work in zoology or paleontology study published in a three- to five-year period." Named after Daniel Giraud Elliot, it was first awarded in 1917. L ...

from the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

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 ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

, in 1947 (one of the largest concentrations of dinosaur deposits ever recorded), publication of their description, and a review of

ceratopsia Ceratopsia or Ceratopia ( or ; Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Europe, and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurass ...

n phylogeny. In 1959, he headed an expedition to the

Geopark A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant sciences. In 20 ...

of Paleorrota (Brazil), within

Llewellyn Ivor Price Llewellyn Ivor Price (October 9, 1905 – June 9, 1980) was one of the first Brazilian paleontologists. His work contributed not only to the development of Brazilian but also to global paleontology. He collected ''Staurikosaurus'', the first ...

.Antônio Isaia, ''Os Fascinantes Caminhos da Paleontologia.'' Editora Pallotti ''(Portuguese)'' His fieldwork in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

in 1969 helped solidify the acceptance of continental drift, by finding a 220-million-year-old fossil of a '' Lystrosaurus''. His popularity and his textbooks on

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

, and

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers ( strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

(with

Marshall Kay Marshall Kay (November 10, 1904 – September 4, 1975) was a geologist and professor at Columbia University. He is best known for his studies of the Ordovician of New York, Newfoundland, and Nevada, but his studies were global and he published ...

) 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 became a curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Museum of Northern Arizona in

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2019, the city's estimated population was 75,038. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has an estimated population ...

in 1970. He died at his home in Flagstaff in 2001.

Works

Colbert wrote more than 20 books and over 400 scientific articles. *1935: ''Siwalik Mammals in the American Museum of Natural History'' *1945: ''The Dinosaur Book: The Ruling Reptiles and Their Relatives'' (repub 1951) *1955: '' Colbert's Evolution of the Vertebrates: A History of the Backboned Animals Through Time'' (four more editions in 1969, 1980, 1991 & 2001; fifth edition with Eli C. Minkoff & Michael Morales) *1961: ''The World of Dinosaurs'', illustrated by George Geygan (repub in 1977 as ''Dinosaur World'') *1961: ''Dinosaurs: Their Discovery and Their World'' *1965: ''

The Age of Reptiles ''The Age of Reptiles'' is a mural depicting the period of ancient history when reptiles were the dominant creatures on the earth, painted by Rudolph Zallinger. The fresco sits in the Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven, Connecticut, and was comp ...

'', illustrated by Margaret Colbert (repub 1987) *1968: ''Men and Dinosaurs: The Search in Field and Laboratory'' (repub 1971) *1968: ''Millions of Years Ago: Prehistoric Life in North America'', illustrated by Margaret Colbert *1973: ''Wandering Lands and Animals: The Story of Continental Drift and Animal Populations'' (repub 1985) *1977: ''The Year of the Dinosaur'', illustrated by Margaret Colbert *1983: ''Dinosaurs: An Illustrated History''. *1984: ''The Great Dinosaur Hunters and Their Discoveries''. *1989: ''Digging into the Past: An Autobiography''. *1995: ''The Little Dinosaurs of Ghost Ranch''. *1980: ''Fossil-Hunter's Notebook: My Life with Dinosaurs and Other Friends'', w/Elias Colbert.

References

* Ann Brimacombe Elliot, ''Charming the Bones: A Portrait of Margaret Matthew Colbert''. Kent State University Press, 2000. . * Romeu Beltrão, ''Cronologia Histórica de Santa Maria e do extinto município de São Martinho.'' 1787–1933. Vol I. Pallotti, 1958. (''Portuguese'')

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Colbert, Edwin H. 1905 births 2001 deaths University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni American paleontologists Columbia University faculty American Unitarians Columbia University alumni People associated with the American Museum of Natural History People from Clarinda, Iowa People from Maryville, Missouri People from Leonia, New Jersey People from Flagstaff, Arizona