Henry Fairfield Osborn, Sr.
(August 8, 1857 – November 6, 1935)
was an American
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 ...
,
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...
and
eugenics
Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior o ...
advocate. He was the president of the
American Museum of Natural History for 25 years and a cofounder of the
American Eugenics Society
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
.
Early life and education
Family
Henry Fairfield Osborn was born in
Fairfield, Connecticut on August 8, 1857 in a family of distinction. He was the eldest son of shipping magnate and railroad tycoon
William Henry Osborn and Virginia Reed (
née Sturges) Osborn.
His maternal grandparents were
Jonathan Sturges
Jonathan Sturges (August 23, 1740 – October 4, 1819) was an American lawyer, jurist and politician from Fairfield, Connecticut. He represented Connecticut as a delegate to the Continental Congress and in the United States House of Repr ...
, a prominent New York businessman and arts patron who was a direct descendant of
Jonathan Sturges
Jonathan Sturges (August 23, 1740 – October 4, 1819) was an American lawyer, jurist and politician from Fairfield, Connecticut. He represented Connecticut as a delegate to the Continental Congress and in the United States House of Repr ...
, a
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
from Connecticut, and Mary Pemberton Cady, a direct descendant of prominent educator
Ebenezer Pemberton
Ebenezer Pemberton (1746 – June 25, 1835) was an American educator and 2nd Principal of Phillips Academy Andover from 1786 to 1793. Refusing to follow his uncle's wishes to become a clergyman, Pemberton pursued a teaching career that would ...
.
His maternal aunt Amelia Sturges, was the first wife of
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...
, but died of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
soon after their wedding.
His younger brother was
William Church Osborn
William Church Osborn (December 21, 1862 – January 3, 1951) was the son of a prominent New York City family who served in a variety of civic roles including president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, president of the Children's Aid Society, a ...
,
who served as president of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
,
and married philanthropist and social reformer Alice Clinton Hoadley Dodge, a daughter of
William E. Dodge Jr.
William Earl Dodge Jr. (February 15, 1832 – August 9, 1903) was an American businessman, activist, and philanthropist. For many years, he was one of two controlling partners in the Phelps Dodge Corporation, one of the largest copper mining corpo ...
Education
From 1873 to 1877, Osborn studied at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, obtaining a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in geology and archaeology, where he was mentored by paleontologist
Edward Drinker Cope. Two years later, Osborn took a special course of study in anatomy in the College of Physicians and Surgeons and Bellevue Medical School of New York under Dr.
William H. Welch
William Henry Welch (April 8, 1850 – April 30, 1934) was an American physician, pathologist, bacteriologist, and medical-school administrator. He was one of the "Big Four" founding professors at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.[embryology
Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, ''-logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos ...]
and
comparative anatomy under
Thomas Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
The stor ...
as well as
Francis Maitland Balfour
Francis (Frank) Maitland Balfour, known as F. M. Balfour, (10 November 1851 – 19 July 1882) was a British biologist. He lost his life while attempting the ascent of Mont Blanc. He was regarded by his colleagues as one of the greatest biologist ...
at
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
, England.
["After Twenty Years:The Record of the Class of 1877", Princeton University, 1877–1897, p. 72. Trenton, N. J. 189.]
In 1880, Osborn obtained a
Sc.D.
Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...
in
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 ...
from Princeton, becoming a lecturer in Biology and Professor of
Comparative Anatomy from the same university between 1883 and 1890.
Career
![DiplodocusWyoming](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/DiplodocusWyoming.jpg)
In 1891, Osborn was hired by
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 ...
as a professor of
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
; simultaneously, he accepted a position at the
American Museum of Natural History, New York, where he served as the curator of a newly formed Department of
Vertebrate Paleontology
Vertebrate paleontology is the subfield of paleontology that seeks to discover, through the study of fossilized remains, the behavior, reproduction and appearance of extinct animals with vertebrae or a notochord. It also tries to connect, by us ...
.
Fossil hunting
As a curator, he assembled a remarkable team of fossil hunters and preparators, including
William King Gregory
William King Gregory (May 19, 1876 – December 29, 1970) was an American zoologist, renowned as a primatologist, paleontologist, and functional and comparative anatomist. He was an expert on mammalian dentition, and a leading contributor t ...
;
Roy Chapman Andrews
Roy Chapman Andrews (January 26, 1884 – March 11, 1960) was an American explorer, adventurer and naturalist who became the director of the American Museum of Natural History. He led a series of expeditions through the politically disturbed ...
and
Barnum Brown
Barnum Brown (February 12, 1873 – February 5, 1963), commonly referred to as Mr. Bones, was an American paleontologist. Named after the circus showman P. T. Barnum, he discovered the first documented remains of ''Tyrannosaurus'' during a career ...
, commonly referred to as ''Mr Bones,'' a possible inspiration for the creation of the fictional archeologist
Indiana Jones; and
Charles R. Knight
Charles Robert Knight (October 21, 1874 – April 15, 1953) was an American wildlife and paleoartist best known for his detailed paintings of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. His works have been reproduced in many books and are currently ...
, who made murals of dinosaurs in their habitats and sculptures of the living creatures.
Long a member of the
US Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...
, Osborn became its senior vertebrate paleontologist in 1924. He led many fossil-hunting expeditions into the
American Southwest
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado ...
, starting with his first to
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
and
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...
in 1877. Osborn conducted research on ''
Tyrannosaurus
''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...
'' brains by cutting open fossilized braincases with a diamond saw.
["Introduction," in Larsson (2001). p. 20.] (Modern researchers use computed tomography scans and 3D reconstruction software to visualize the interior of dinosaur endocrania without damaging valuable specimens.)
["Abstract," in Larsson (2001). p. 19.]
On November 23, 1897 he was elected member of the
Boone and Crockett Club
The Boone and Crockett Club is an American nonprofit organization that advocates fair chase hunting in support of habitat conservation. The club is North America's oldest wildlife and habitat conservation organization, founded in the United Sta ...
, a wildlife conservation organization founded by
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
and
George Bird Grinnell
George Bird Grinnell (September 20, 1849 – April 11, 1938) was an American anthropologist, historian, naturalist, and writer. Grinnell was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in 1870 and a Ph.D. in 1880. ...
. Thanks to his considerable family wealth and personal connections, he succeeded
Morris K. Jesup as the president of the museum's Board of Trustees in 1908, serving until 1933, during which time he accumulated one of the finest
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
collections in the world.
Additionally, Osborn served as President of the
New York Zoological Society
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
from 1909 to 1925.
![PSM V66 D014 Officers of the paleontology section of the st louis congress](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/PSM_V66_D014_Officers_of_the_paleontology_section_of_the_st_louis_congress.png)
He was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 1886. He accumulated a number of prizes for his work in paleontology. In 1901, Osborn was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
.
He described and named ''
Ornitholestes
''Ornitholestes'' (meaning "bird robber") is a small theropod dinosaur of the late Jurassic (Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation, middle Kimmeridgian age, about 154 million years agoTurner, C.E. and Peterson, F., (1999). "Biostratigrap ...
'' in 1903, ''
Tyrannosaurus rex
''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...
'' and ''
Albertosaurus
''Albertosaurus'' (; meaning "Alberta lizard") is a genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaurs that lived in western North America during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 71 million years ago. The type species, ''A. sarcophagus'', wa ...
'' in 1905, ''
Pentaceratops
''Pentaceratops'' ("five-horned face") is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of what is now North America. Fossils of this animal were first discovered in 1921, but the genus was named in 1923 when its ty ...
'' in 1923, and ''
Velociraptor
''Velociraptor'' (; ) is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the p ...
'' in 1924.
In 1929 Osborn 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.
...
from the
National Academy of Sciences.
American Museum of Natural History
His legacy at the American Museum has proved more enduring. Biographer Ronald Rainger has described Osborn as "a first-rate science administrator and a third-rate scientist." Indeed, Osborn's greatest contributions to science ultimately lay in his efforts to popularize it through visual means. At his urging, staff members at the
American Museum of Natural History invested new energy in display, and the museum became one of the pre-eminent sites for exhibition in the early twentieth century as a result. The murals, habitat dioramas, and dinosaur mounts executed during his tenure at the museum attracted millions of visitors, and inspired other museums to imitate his innovations. But his decision to invest heavily in exhibition also alienated certain members of the scientific community and angered curators hoping to spend more time on their own research. Additionally, his efforts to imbue the museum's exhibits and educational programs with his own racist and eugenist beliefs disturbed many of his contemporaries and have marred his legacy.
Theories
Dawn Man Theory
Osborn developed his own evolutionary theory of human origins called the "Dawn Man Theory". His theory was founded on the discovery of
Piltdown Man
The Piltdown Man was a paleoanthropological fraud in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. Although there were doubts about its authenticity virtually from the beginning, the remains ...
(''Eoanthropus'') which was dated to the Late (Upper)
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58[ape
Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...](_blank)
during the
Oligocene period which he believed developed entirely separately during the Miocene (16 million years ago). Therefore, Osborn argued that ''all'' apes (
Simia
In his '' Systema Naturae'' of 1758, Carl Linnaeus divided the Order Primates within ''Mammalia'' into four genera: ''Homo'', ''Simia'', ''Lemur'', and ''Vespertilio''. His ''Vespertilio'' included all bats, and has since been moved from Primates ...
, following the pre-Darwinian classification of
Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
) had evolved entirely parallel to the ancestors of man (
homo
''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus '' Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' ( modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely relat ...
). Osborn himself wrote:
While believing in common ancestry between man and ape, Osborn denied that this ancestor was ape-like. The common ancestor between man and ape Osborn always maintained was more human than ape. Writing to Arthur Keith in 1927, he remarked "when our Oligocene ancestor is found it will not be an ape, but it will be surprisingly pro-human". His student
William K. Gregory called Osborn's idiosyncratic view on man's origins as a form of "
Parallel Evolution
Parallel evolution is the similar development of a trait in distinct species that are not closely related, but share a similar original trait in response to similar evolutionary pressure.Zhang, J. and Kumar, S. 1997Detection of convergent and paral ...
", but many
creationists
Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of Creation myth, divine creation.#Gunn 2004, Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' say ...
misinterpreted Osborn, greatly frustrating him, and believed he was asserting humankind had never evolved from a lower life form.
Evolutionary views
Osborn was originally a supporter of
Edward Drinker Cope's neo-Lamarckism, however he later abandoned this view. Osborn became a proponent of organic selection, also known as the
Baldwin effect
In evolutionary biology, the Baldwin effect, a phenotype-first theory of evolution, describes the effect of learned behaviour on evolution. James Mark Baldwin and others suggested during the eclipse of Darwinism in the late 19th century that an ...
.
[Levit, Georgy S; Olsson, Lennart. (2007). ''Evolution on Rails Mechanisms and Levels of Orthogenesis''. In Volker Wissemann. ''Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology 11/2006''. Universitätsverlag Göttingen. pp. 107–108.]
Osborn was a believer in
orthogenesis
Orthogenesis, also known as orthogenetic evolution, progressive evolution, evolutionary progress, or progressionism, is an obsolete biological hypothesis that organisms have an innate tendency to evolve in a definite direction towards some go ...
; he coined the term ''aristogenesis'' for his theory. His aristogenesis was based on a "physicochemical approach" to evolution.
He believed that aristogenes operate as biomechanisms in the geneplasm of the organism. He also held the view that
mutation
In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA replication, DNA or viral repl ...
s and
natural selection
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Cha ...
play no creative role in evolution and that aristogenesis was the origin of new novelty. Osborn equated this struggle for evolutionary advancement with the striving for spiritual salvation, thereby combining his biological and spiritual viewpoints.
Eugenics
Osborn, who cofounded the
American Eugenics Society
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
in 1922,
advocated a view not uncommon in circles of the upper classes at that time, that heredity is superior to influences from the environment.
As an extension of this, he accepted that distinct
races existed with fixed hereditary traits, and held the
Nordic or
Anglo-Saxon "race" to be highest. Osborn therefore supported
eugenics
Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior o ...
to preserve "good" racial stock. Due to this, he endorsed
Madison Grant
Madison Grant (November 19, 1865 – May 30, 1937) was an American lawyer, zoologist, anthropologist, and writer known primarily for his work as a eugenicist and conservationist, and as an advocate of scientific racism. Grant is less noted f ...
's ''
The Passing of the Great Race
''The Passing of the Great Race: Or, The Racial Basis of European History'' is a 1916 racist and pseudoscientific book by American lawyer, self-styled anthropologist, and proponent of eugenics, Madison Grant (1865–1937). Grant expounds a theo ...
'', writing both the second and fourth prefaces of the book, which argued for such views. The book was also largely influential on
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
. Hitler called the book ‘his bible’ for it advocated a rigid system of selection through the elimination of those who, according to the writer's opinion are to be seen as 'weak' or 'unfit'.
Personal life
![CastleRockGarrison](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/CastleRockGarrison.jpg)
In June 1881, Osborn was married to writer Lucretia Thatcher Perry (1858–1930) at the military chapel on
Governors Island
Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Park ...
.
She was the daughter of
Brigadier General
Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...
Alexander James Perry and Josephine (Adams) Perry, and a descendant of Justice
Christopher Raymond Perry
Christopher Raymond Perry (December 4, 1761 – June 1, 1818) was an officer in the United States Navy who was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Washington County, Rhode Island, in 1780 and served until 1791. He was th ...
).
Lucretia's sister, Josephine Adams Perry, was the wife of banker
Junius Spencer Morgan II
Junius Spencer Morgan II (June 5, 1867 – August 18, 1932) was a banker, art collector and nephew of John Pierpont Morgan, Sr.
Early life
Junius Spencer Morgan II was born on June 5, 1867 in Irvington, New York to George Hale Morgan (1840–191 ...
.
Thatcher Perry had five children with Osborn, one of whom died in childhood:
* Virginia Sturges Osborn (1882–1955), married firstly Ralph Sanger (1882–1918); married secondly Robert Gordon McKay (1877–1958).
** Fairfield Osborn Sanger (1907–1917)
* Alexander Perry Osborn (1884–1951), a lawyer and banker who married secondly Marie Cantrell (1903–1988).
His first marriage was to Anne Maynadier Steele (1894–1977), and resulted in a divorce.
** Alexander Perry Osborn Jr. (1917–1974), married Marion Lawrence (1918–2010), a great-great-granddaughter of
Abbott Lawrence
Abbott Lawrence (December 16, 1792, Groton, Massachusetts – August 18, 1855) was a prominent American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He was among the group of industrialists that founded a settlement on the Merrimack River that ...
and twice-divorced mother of four. Her first marriage was to
Robert B. Cutler.
*** Alexander Perry Osborn III (1955–2008)
**** Alexander Perry Osborn IV
**** Gary Wayne Osborn
**** David Eugene Osborn
*
Henry Fairfield Osborn Jr.
Henry Fairfield Osborn Jr. (15 January 1887 – 16 September 1969), was an American conservationist. He was longtime president of the New York Zoological Society (today known as the Wildlife Conservation Society).
Biography
Henry Fairfield Osbor ...
(1887–1969), known as Fairfield Osborn, naturalist and conservationist who married Marjorie Mary Lamond (1892–1989).
* Josephine Adams Osborn (1890–1976), who married James "Jay" Coogan Jr. (1886–1974).
** Rhoda Gordon Coogan (1923–2000), married Charles Cary (1916–1985), the son of
George Cary and great-grandson of
Trumbull Cary
Trumbull Cary (August 11, 1787 Mansfield, Connecticut – June 20, 1869 Batavia, New York) was an American banker, lawyer, and politician from New York.
Early life
Trumbull Cary was born in Mansfield, Connecticut on August 11, 1787. He wa ...
and
Thomas C. Love.
*** Trumbull Cary (b. 1952), married Eleanor Lamont Cunningham (b. 1959), a descendant of
Edward Burnett
Edward Burnett (March 16, 1849 – November 5, 1925) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Burnett attended St. Paul's School. He was graduated from St. Mark's School, Southboro, Massachusetts, which ha ...
and
James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets that ...
.
**** Nicholas Cunningham Cary (b. 1993)
**** Medeleine Lamont Cary (b. 1996)
**** William Cromwell Cary (b. 1996)
* Gurdon Saltonstall Osborn (1895–1896), who died young.
After his father's death in 1894,
Osborn inherited his
Rhenish style home,
Castle Rock, in
Garrison, New York
Garrison is a hamlet in Putnam County, New York, United States. It is part of the town of Philipstown, on the east side of the Hudson River, across from the United States Military Academy at West Point. The Garrison Metro-North Railroad st ...
in the
Hudson Highlands
The Hudson Highlands are mountains on both sides of the Hudson River in New York state lying primarily in Putnam County on its east bank and Orange County on its west. They continue somewhat to the south in Westchester County and Rockland Count ...
, which his father had purchased in 1859, and where he concentrated on his philanthropy after his 1882 retirement.
After his mother's death in 1902, the remainder of his parents' estate was equally divided between Henry and his brother
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
.
Following an "illness of nearly a year", his wife died at their country home in August 1930.
Osborn died suddenly on November 6, 1935 in his study at Castle Rock, overlooking the Hudson River.
Eponyms
The dinosaur ''
Saurolophus osborni
''Saurolophus'' (; meaning "lizard crest") is a genus of large hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of Asia and North America, that lived in what is now the Horseshoe Canyon and Nemegt formations about 70 million to 68 millio ...
'' was named after Osborn by
Barnum Brown
Barnum Brown (February 12, 1873 – February 5, 1963), commonly referred to as Mr. Bones, was an American paleontologist. Named after the circus showman P. T. Barnum, he discovered the first documented remains of ''Tyrannosaurus'' during a career ...
in 1912.
An African dwarf crocodile, ''
Osteolaemus osborni'', was named in his honor by
Karl Patterson Schmidt in 1919.
[Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Osborn", p. 196).]
Published books
''From the Greeks to Darwin: An Outline of the Development of the Evolution Idea''(1894)
''Present Problems in Evolution and Heredity''(1892)
of Mammalian Molar Teeth: To and From the Triangular Type''(1907)
''Men of the Old Stone Age: Their Environment Life and Art''(1915)
''The Origin and Evolution of Life''(1916)
''Men of the Old Stone Age''(1916)
''The Age of Mammals in Europe, Asia and North America''(1921)
* ''Evolution and Religion'' (1923)
''Evolution And Religion In Education''(1926)
* ''Man Rises to Parnassus', Critical Epochs in the Pre-History of Man'' (1927)
''Aristogenesis, the Creative Principle in the Origin of Species''(1934)
See also
*
"The New Museum Idea"
References
Works cited
*
*
* Larsson, H.C.E., 2001. Endocranial Anatomy of Carcharodontosaurus saharicus. In D.H. Tanke & K. Carpenter (eds.), ''Mesozoic Vertebrate Life:'' pp. 19–33.
*
Further reading
*
*
* Robertson, Thomas, "Total War and the Total Environment: Fairfield Osborn, William Vogt, and the Birth of Global Ecology," ''Environmental History,'' 17 (April 2012), 336–64.
* (
Madison Grant
Madison Grant (November 19, 1865 – May 30, 1937) was an American lawyer, zoologist, anthropologist, and writer known primarily for his work as a eugenicist and conservationist, and as an advocate of scientific racism. Grant is less noted f ...
was a friend and collaborator of Osborn)
National Academy of Sciences: Biographical Memoir of Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857–1935), by William K. Gregory, 1937
External links
Bibliography of the published writings of Henry Fairfield Osborn for the years 1877-1915*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborn, Henry Fairfield
1857 births
1935 deaths
20th-century American scientists
American conservationists
American eugenicists
American geologists
American paleontologists
Columbia University faculty
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Orthogenesis
People associated with the American Museum of Natural History
People from Fairfield, Connecticut
Recipients of the Cullum Geographical Medal
United States Geological Survey personnel
Wildlife Conservation Society people
Wollaston Medal winners
Members of the American Philosophical Society