Lawrence Lambe

Lawrence Morris Lambe (1849–1934) was a Canadian geologist and palaeontologist from the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). His published work, describing the diverse and plentiful dinosaur discoveries from the fossil beds in Alberta, did much to bring dinosaurs into the public eye and helped usher in the Golden Age of Dinosaurs in the province. During this period, between the 1880s and World War I, dinosaur hunters from all over the world converged on Alberta. Lambeosaurus, a well-known hadrosaur, was named after him as a tribute, in 1923.

Lambe's work in western Canada began in 1897. He discovered a number of new dinosaur genera and species over the next few years, and spent much of his time preparing the fossil galleries of the GSC's museum. In 1902, he described Canada's first dinosaur finds, various species of Monoclonius. He described Centrosaurus in 1904. Euoplocephalus was named by him, in 1910. In 1913, he named Styracosaurus. He was responsible for naming Chasmosaurus and Gorgosaurus, in 1914 and Eoceratops in 1915. In 1917, he created the genus Edmontosaurus. In 1919 came Panoplosaurus. He also discovered and named the hadrosaurid Gryposaurus.

Inevitably, it was not only dinosaurs that Lambe discovered. The crocodilian Leidysuchus canadensis was described in 1907. This is the most commonly found crocodilian species found in the Late Cretaceous deposits of Alberta. He also studied Devonian fishes from New Brunswick and Paleozoic corals, collected Tertiary insects and plants in British Columbia but it is for his work on vertebrates from western Canada, especially dinosaurs, that he is most famous.