Barnum Brown American paleontologist Date of Birth: 12.02.1873 Country: USA

Biography of Barnum Brown

Barnum Brown, an American paleontologist, was born on February 12, 1873, in Carbondale, Kansas. He was the fourth and youngest child of local farmers who named him after Phineas Taylor Barnum, the most famous and influential figure in the circus world at that time. Brown's career as a paleontologist set him apart from his ordinary last name.

In 1893, Brown became a student at the University of Kansas, where he met Samuel Williston, a renowned geology professor and paleontologist. Together with Williston, Brown participated in two expeditions and developed a lifelong passion for dinosaur hunting. With the financial support of the American Museum of Natural History, Brown traveled across the country in search of fossils, not just limited to dinosaurs.

Known for his collection of specimens with scientific value, Brown often sent money to have fossils delivered to the museum, leading to a flurry of correspondence between him and the original discoverers. In 1902, while leading an expedition in Hell Creek, Montana, Brown discovered the first officially documented remains of Tyrannosaurus rex, which are now part of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History's collection.

During his time in Montana, Brown and his team employed controlled dynamite explosions to remove tons of rock hiding precious fossils, which were then transported on horses. This method proved successful, and Brown's discoveries filled the halls of the museum.

From 1910 to 1915, Brown worked in the Red Deer River Valley in Alberta, Canada, where he and his competitors, led by Charles Sternberg, found an abundance of fossils. In 1998, paleontologists organized a new expedition based on Brown's notes, resulting in the discovery of numerous Albertosaurus skeletons.

Brown lived and worked during a time of unprecedented scientific discoveries and gained a reputation as one of its brightest representatives. His enthusiastic fans nicknamed him "Mr. Bones". During his excavations in Canada, Brown often appeared in photographs wearing a large coat, adding to his picturesque image.

During World War I and World War II, Brown worked for intelligence agencies, sometimes acting as a corporate spy for American oil companies during his extensive international travels. His second wife, Lilian Brown, wrote a memoir titled "I Married a Dinosaur," published in 1950, which recounted her expeditions with her husband.

Barnum Brown passed away on February 5, 1963, and was buried in Oxford, New York, next to his first wife. His second wife and daughter were later laid to rest beside him.