Mary Anning (1799 - 1847) was an English paleontologist, collector and seller of fossils. Thanks to the fossils found by her, many scientists got material to carry out their research, which is why it was very important in the study of geological history.
She came from a family with few economic resources, but stood out on her own merits, since Anning was one of the most important fossil collectors and traders of her time..
However, as a woman, Mary Anning was rejected by the intellectual circles of her time and was frequently ignored in the articles that were made with the fossilized specimens that came from her excavations..
Among the most important specimens that were recovered by Anning is the first ichthyosaur that was identified as such; various plesiosaur skeletons and remains of a pterosaur (the first to be found outside of Germany).
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Mary Anning was born on May 21, 1799, in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England. His father was Richard Anning, a cabinetmaker, and his mother Mary Moore. The Anning family did not have great fortunes, so Richard supplemented his income by selling fossils to tourists.
The Anning couple had ten children, but only Mary and Joseph reached adulthood. The family belonged to the religious group known as the English "dissidents", who later came to be called Congregationalists..
Anning learned to read and write by attending Sunday school in the Congregational community. At that time public education itself was limited, but it was even more so for girls.
Mary and Joseph collaborated with their father, Richard Anning, in collecting fossils on the shore of the beach, which were prized as souvenirs by travelers visiting Dorset..
That is why they continued to carry out this economic activity after the death of their father in 1810.
Mary Anning's first great discovery was the body of a creature that was later dubbed an ichthyosaur. At that time the young woman was 11 years old and both her brother and her mother worked with her selling fossils..
Little by little she began to have the leading role in the family business, especially since her brother had taken a position as an apprentice upholsterer, which promised him more constant income..
In 1820 Thomas James Birch, who was one of the main clients of the Anning family, held an auction of many fossils from his collection for the benefit of the widow Mary Moore and her children Mary and Joseph Anning..
Thanks to the financial help of Birch, Mary Anning and her family managed to stabilize financially and gained popularity among fossil collectors, which allowed them to have a secure income..
During the 1820s the name Mary Anning was brought to prominence by several important discoveries. In 1823 he got a complete plesiosaur, five years later he found the first pterosaur that had been located in Great Britain.
Despite her poor education, Anning was interested in studying these creatures and used to copy articles, especially from the Geological Society. She attached her own drawings concerning the anatomy of the specimens found by her.
In 1826 Mary Anning raised enough money to buy a house of her own and set up her fossil shop on the lower level. Although at that time it was already recognized by the scientific community, normally Anning's name was omitted from specialized articles because she is a woman.
Anning befriended several men of science, such as the geologist Henry De la Benche.
Among those who frequented Anning and accompanied her on her fossil-hunting expeditions were geologist William Buckland and paleontologist Richard Owen..
The Lyme fossil seller formed a lasting friendship with Charlotte Murchison, wife of Roderick Murchison, after she stayed with Anning for a time to be trained in fossil collection..
Britain struggled economically in the 1830s, and Mary Anning was no exception. Demand for fossils by collectors fell, affecting the income of the paleontologist by trade.
Some years later, apparently as a result of a bad financial investment, Anning lost all of her life savings. Thanks to William Buckland he got the government to assign him a pension of 25 pounds a year for his contribution to science.
Mary Anning passed away on March 9, 1847 in Dorset, England. The forerunner of paleontology had suffered from breast cancer for some time. As a painkiller, she took several doses of laudanum a day, which led her to have temperament changes at the end of her life..
When the Geological Society learned that Anning had been diagnosed with cancer, they raised funds to help with the expenses that her disease could generate..
Anning was buried in the St. Michael's Parish Cemetery. The Geological Society also commissioned a stained glass window in memory of that fossil merchant who made so many contributions to this field of study..
Her friend Henry De la Benche, who was then president of the Geological Society, read an elegy dedicated to her at a meeting of the organization. This was the first time that such an honor was given to a woman within that institution.
Anning was 12 years old when his brother found a 1.2 meter skull, but he was not able to find the rest of the animal, a task he entrusted to Mary. She got a 5.2 meter long skeleton.
Anning's first discovery in 1811 attracted media attention and it was determined in the first place that it must be from a crocodile. When they began to investigate what type of animal the fossil belonged to, it was classified as Ichthyosauria (lizard fish).
The scientists who studied the fossil discovered by Anning, and gave a name to the order to which it belonged, did not mention it in any of their works..
In 1821 specimens appeared that were different from Anning's ichthyosaur; Scientists William Conybeare and Henry De la Beche named this new discovery Plesiosauria (nearby lizard), for its similarities to modern reptile species.
The first specimens of plesiosaurs were found by Thomas James Birch, although some think it could be one of the fossils Anning found between 1820 and the following year..
During 1823 Anning found another specimen of plesiosaur, which was also studied by Conybeare for his description of that order, since it was much more complete than Birch's..
Despite that, Conybeare also did not mention Anning's name in his reports, as he did with Birch. In addition, she was the author of the drawings that Conybeare showed to the Geological Society in 1824, but remained ignored by intellectual circles in that period..
In any case, the best specimen of plesiosaur found by Anning was from 1830. It was the best preserved and most complete; this was baptized as Plesiosaurus macrocephalus.
In 1828 Mary Anning made several discoveries, one of them was that of various parts of a skeleton of a member of the order Pterosauria (winged lizards).
This find was important because he had been the first member of the order to be located outside of Germany..
In William Buckland's description of the Pterodactylus (later called Dimorphodon) macronyx, Anning was credited as the person who discovered it..
In the 1820s Anning made other relevant findings such as that of the Dapedium politum, this fossil belonged to a marine creature.
He also found a copy of Squaloraja, possessing characteristics of a shark and manta ray, he himself belonged to the order Chimaeriformes.
Another of Anning's discoveries was the ink bag from the Belemnoidea, which were creatures similar to squid. The ink was still in good condition, and he actually used it to illustrate some of the creatures he encountered..
Mary Anning contributed evidence to support the theory of evolution and the extinction of species.
Thanks to the fossils discovered by Anning and other paleontologists of his time, it was confirmed that the earth was inhabited in the past by other beings.
It also gave way to the theory that there was an "age of reptiles", in which these types of animals were the most abundant and who dominated the earth and not mammals as it happens today..
Anning began studies of the content found in the abdomens of some fossilized creatures. Then he concluded that it was feces and that served to know the diets that those beings consumed.
For all her contributions Anning is considered one of the forerunners of scientific studies that over the years became paleontology.
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