American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

Cope, E. D. (Edward Drinker) 1840-1897
birth: July 28, 1840
death: April 12, 1897
Edward Drinker Cope was a paleontologist who discovered approximately a thousand species of extinct vertebrates in the United States. Along with his rival, Otheniel Marsh, he is credited with discovery of the first complete remains of large dinosaurs. In 1894, Cope sold his important fossil collection to the American Museum of Natural History. The museum has Cope's diaries and notebooks, along with pencil drawings of dinosaurs (including "The Horned Lizard" and "Elasmosaurus"). The sketches of the Elasmosaurus and the Dimetrodon served as bases for paintings by Charles R. Knight which are in the American Museum of Natural History