Henry Fairfield Osborn

Henry Fairfield Osborn 1857-1935, American paleontologist and geologist, b. Fairfield, Conn. He was professor of comparative anatomy (1883-90) at Princeton, and professor of biology (1891-96) and of zoology (1896-1910) at Columbia, where he was also dean of the faculty of pure science (1892-95). From 1891 he was associated with the American Museum of Natural History and formed one of the world's foremost collections of vertebrate fossils. Under his presidency (1908-33) the museum's scientific staff, facilities, and endowments were greatly expanded. He joined the U.S. Geological Survey as vertebrate paleontologist in 1900 and became (1924) senior geologist. His voluminous writings include general works on evolution and over 500 technical papers on paleontology.

Osborn, Henry Fairfield (1857–1935) The son of a wealthy Connecticut family, H. F. Osborn is one of the giants of American palaeontology. Even before he had graduated from Princeton University in 1877 he had taken part in a highly productive expedition to Wyoming in search of fossil vertebrates. At Princeton he became a professor of zoology and anatomy but moved in 1891 to New York to be Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, and to an appointment as Professor of Zoology and Anatomy at Columbia University. In these capacities he achieved great things, not only in his scientific research but also by his administrative and organizational prowess. In 1908 he became the Director of the American Museum of Natural History and gave it ultimately the status of the world's leading palaeontological collection.

Osborn's major palaeontological works concerned the early Cenozoic mammalian faunas of the West. In these he was the pupil, friend of, and successor to E. D. Cope. He is particularly associated with work on the giant brontotheres, and he proposed a theory to account for their evolution and extinction. His other great contributions concerned the evolution of the elephants and the horses in America.

As director of the Museum he was responsible for training research staff and, with R. C. Andrews, for palaeontological expeditions to the Gobi desert of Mongolia that were not only spectacularly successful scientifically but also captured popular attention worldwide. In addition, Osborn kept up a steady flow of scientific publications, and in his day was known as ‘the Darwin and Huxley of the New World’.

D. L. Dineley

Osborn, Henry Fairfield (1857–1935) An American palaeontologist who taught at Princeton and Columbia Universities, Osborn was an evolutionary theorist who developed the concept of adaptive radiation. He also arranged the mammalian palaeontology exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History.