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The Bone War
Science turned into rivalry and then into Obsession
In the late 19th century, two American scientists locked themselves in a race. A race of bones.
Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, two paleontologists who started as colleagues, ended as bitter enemies. Their battleground stretched from the rocky badlands of the American West to the prestigious pages of scientific journals. Their goal: to out-discover, out-name, and outshine one another in the hunt for dinosaur fossils. And in doing so, they shaped the world of paleontology forever.
Joined At the Hip
Edward Cope was born in 1840, a Philadelphian Quaker and a child prodigy. Brilliant, hot-tempered, and impulsive, he published his first scientific paper at age 19. Cope had an instinct for natural history that often outpaced his formal education. He could identify fossils at a glance that others might study for weeks.
Othniel Marsh, six years older, came from humble Connecticut origins before fortune smiled upon him. He was cautious, methodical, and calculating — and far better connected. Thanks to his wealthy uncle, philanthropist George Peabody, Marsh secured substantial funding, social prestige, and eventually a coveted professorship at Yale.
