Othniel Marsh (1831-99), US palaeontologist. Marsh studied at Yale and New Haven, and worked at Yale from 1866 until his death as professor of vertebrate palaeontology. From 1870 onward, Marsh organised many expeditions in North America, searching for fossils. He was the first to discover an American pterodactyl, just one of the 1000 or more fossil species he discovered. In 1882 Marsh was appointed head of the vertebrate palaeontology section of the US Geological Survey, an appointment which led to a bitter and protracted rivalry with fellow palaeontologist, Edward Cope - resulting in Cope dynamiting fossil beds before Marsh could excavate them.