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Mary Anning, The 19th Century Groundbreaking Female Pioneer Of Dinosaurs And Fossils
A British woman of modest education and financial means became the first female expert in a field of study that was to explode
Women have had to fight and scrape in their search for equity and inclusion throughout history. Sadly, they have often met with exclusion and prejudice but often forged ahead with following their passions. Mary Anning lived in a time when women were expected to have minimal education and keep houses but she had other interests that she pursued with vigor — specifically her stats as a pioneer in the study of dinosaurs and fossils.
Born in 1799 in England as one of 10 children (only one of her siblings lived to adulthood), Anning loved the study of fossils from an early age. Her father was a carpenter who made extra money by selling what he mined from the local fossil beds, now known as the Jurassic Coast, to tourists. Naturally, bringing his daughter with him on these hunts helped build her interest. Searching along the cliffs of the English Channel, she became obsessed with paleontology. At the age of 12 she correctly identified an ichthyosaur skeleton along with a bevy of other ancient fossils like the first pterosaur skeleton found outside of Germany and two nearly…
