Edwin H. Colbert

AKA: Edwin Harris Colbert

Born 1905-09-28 Clarinda, IA (USA)

Died 2001-11-15
Flagstaff, AZ (USA)

University of Nebraska graduate who became one of the leading vertebrate paleontologists of his generation. He was curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History for forty years, and designed the museum's two great halls of dinosaur displays. His books and discoveries did much to create the modern public interest in dinosaurs. Among fellow paleontologists he was regarded as having done as much to advance understanding of early mammals as for the dinosaurs. He studied in Nebraska with Erwin Barbour, and did field work with fellow Barbour students Bert Schultz and Harold Cook. His autobiography A Fossil Hunter's Notebook: My Life with Dinosaurs and Other Friends, 1980 is a science classic and includes descriptions of his work on fossil preparations that may still be seen at the Nebraska State Museum.

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Places Lived

Clarinda, IA
Lincoln, NE
Washington, D.C.
Flagstaff, AZ

Author Of

Nonfiction

Keywords

Vertebrate Paleontology; Geology; Nebraska State Museum; Morrill Hall; Dinosaurs

Education

University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
Columbia University, PhD.

Occupation

Vertebrate Paleontologist
University Professor
Museum Curator

Places Worked

American Museum of Natural History
Museum of Northern Arizona, 1985

Honors

Elected to the National Academy of Science, 1957

Associations

Henry Fairfield Osborne

Bibliography

A Fossil-Hunter's Notebook: My Life with Dinosaurs and Other Friends. 1980.
Digging into the Past: An Autobiography. 1989.

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