Abstract
Wolf and Mellett in their Talk origins paper, The Role of 'Nebraska man' in the creation-evolution debate, claim Nebraska man was a careless mistake by an honest scientist. However, the evidence suggests that Osborn deliberately overstated the find because the theory of evolution was centre stage in a struggle for control of education policy in America. It is true that in the end, the Nebraska man find was not central to the Scopes Trial, but it was used as an effective tool to undermine Bryan, the well-known opponent of evolution and prosecution lawyer at the trial, and it proved useful in the campaign to promote evolution.