John Bell Hatcher

John Bell Hatcher (October 11, 1861 – July 3, 1904) was an American paleontologist and fossil hunter known as the "king of collectors" and best known for discovering Torosaurus and Triceratops, two genera of dinosaurs described by Othniel Charles Marsh. He was part of a new, professional middle class in American science, having financed his education with his labor while also being more educated than older fossil collectors. As such, he faced unique challenges throughout his long and productive career. Early life Hatcher was born on October 11, 1861, in Cooperstown, Illinois, to John B. Hatcher (b. 1835) and Margaret Columbia O'Neal (b. 1842). When Hatcher was young, his father, who was both a farmer and a schoolteacher, moved the family to Cooper, Iowa. There he received his early education from his father and local schools. Education He first took an interest in paleontology and geology while working as a coal miner to save money for school and discovering fossils of ancient organisms. He matriculated at Grinnell College in 1880 or 1881, then transferred to Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School in 1882, in part because of the school's esteemed faculty which included James Dwight Dana, a well-renowned professor of geology. After receiving an education in geology, mineralogy, zoology, and botany, Hatcher graduated with a bachelor of philosophy degree from the "Sheff" in 1884 with the graduation thesis "On the Genus of Mosses termed Conomitrium." Before graduating, he showed his coal mines collection of Carboniferous fossils to George Jarvis Brush, professor of metallurgy and director of the Sheffield Scientific School, who then introduced him to the paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh. Career