by Mary Anning (21 May 1799 – 9 March 1847) was an English fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist who became known around the world for finds she made in Jurassic marine fossil beds in the cliffs along the English Channel at Lyme Regis in the county of Dorset in Southwest England.
Anning's findings contributed to changes in scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth.
As a Dissenter and a woman, Anning was not able to fully participate in the scientific community of 19th-century Britain, who were mostly Anglican gentlemen, and she struggled financially for much of her life.
As a woman, she was not eligible to join the Geological Society of London and she did not always receive full credit for her scientific contributions.
However her friend, geologist Henry De la Beche, painted Duria Antiquior, the first widely circulated pictorial representation of a scene from prehistoric life derived from fossil reconstructions, based it largely on fossils Anning had found, and sold prints of it for her benefit.
Charles Dickens wrote an article about Anning's life in February 1865 in his literary magazine All the Year Round.
In 2010 the Royal Society included Anning in a list of the ten British women who have most influenced the history of science.
Source
Anning's findings contributed to changes in scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth.
As a Dissenter and a woman, Anning was not able to fully participate in the scientific community of 19th-century Britain, who were mostly Anglican gentlemen, and she struggled financially for much of her life.
As a woman, she was not eligible to join the Geological Society of London and she did not always receive full credit for her scientific contributions.
However her friend, geologist Henry De la Beche, painted Duria Antiquior, the first widely circulated pictorial representation of a scene from prehistoric life derived from fossil reconstructions, based it largely on fossils Anning had found, and sold prints of it for her benefit.
Charles Dickens wrote an article about Anning's life in February 1865 in his literary magazine All the Year Round.
In 2010 the Royal Society included Anning in a list of the ten British women who have most influenced the history of science.
Source
