Cope, Edward Drinker (1840–1897)

US zoologist and palaeontologist. Cope founded (along with Joseph Leidy and Othniel Charles Marsh) the science of American vertebrate palaeontology. He discovered more than 600 fossil species, mostly of cold-blooded vertebrates and extinct mammals, whose discovery significantly pushed back the age of mammals. A believer in the inheritability of acquired characteristics, he became America's foremost neo-Lamarckian evolutionary theorist.

He was born in Philadelphia. His postsecondary education was limited to one year's study with at the University of Pennsylvania. The ambitious Cope struggled had a famous 25-year feud with his archrival O C Marsh, with whom he publicly traded vitriolic accusations of inaccuracy and unethical conduct. Cope's massive published output included more than 1,500 titles. His published descriptions laid the groundwork for the classification of North American fishes, amphibians, and reptilesHe owned and edited American Naturalist (1878–97) and was professor at the University of Pennsylvania 1889–97.