Page 149 - (DK) How to be a GENIUS?

Inspired by finds like Mary’s, this old print shows what
an ichthyosaur and a plesiosaur might have looked like.

ag
dr
n
Se
Se a dr ag on
Sea dragon
c
B
co
W al th y co ll l ec t o r T om as B ir ch w as s s s
We
Th
Wealthy collector Thommas Birch was so
s
y
s
p
d
di
y
d
se
e
by
es
M
by
r
th
at
ie
m
s
m
h
v
im
impressedd by Marry’s discoveries that he sold
e
il
c
a
fo
g
fo
an
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1
io
t
n
n
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82
le
o
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ct
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le
ow
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hi his ownn fossil colllectiion in 1820 andd ggave
n
i
e
An
th
o
e
pr
es
hi
ta
th the proceeds to he Annings. Thiss established
T
ng
i
e
s.
oc
ee
ds
sh
r
ss
bu
an
ry
n
Ma
he
Mary in her business,, andd she went oon to make
we
e
e
Ma
e
si
az
in
t
fin
Th
lu
i
r
he
nc
h
ey
am
,
ot other amazing finds. They included, inn 1823, the
ds
g
d,
i
de
.
st
ed
ke
le
fir first known skeleton of a long-neccked “sea
ne
g
wn
ck
g-
n
l
to
a
s
no
o
of
on
k
ib
e
on
e
sa
,”
cr
d
d
g
dr dragon ” llater descrribedd as aa plesioosaur.
es
a
a
s
ag
pl
Mary on the shore of Lyme Regis with her G
geological hammer and Tray, her dog.
Geological pioneer r
When Mary Anning was col lle l ct ctin ing
Renowned expert fossils, most scie i ntists still believe e ed d
that Ear a th and its animals had been
Mary had little formal education, created in six days, only 6,000 years
but she taught herself anatomy and ago. The evolutionar a y theories of
geology. At an early age, she became Charles Darwin were e not published
lifelong friends with Henry de la Beche, until 12 years after M Mary died
who went on to become the president in 1847. Her fossi i ils s o f extinct t t
of the Geological Society of London. She creatures were some of o t the most
h
knew many other eminent scientists, important geological a discove v ries of
w
either personally or through letters, and all time, an nd d her ideas about what
g
w
by the mid-1820s, she was considered they meant f forced scientists to o look
o
ce
an expert on most types of fossils. for differen nt ways of explaining g the
Yet she rarely left Lyme Regis, and history of life. In 18 824, it was said d d of o
she visited London—then the center M n
Mary, “. . . all acknowledge that t she
of the scientific world—only once. understands more of the science
n
th h han anyone else in th this kingdom.” ”
These illustrations from 1860 include an ichthyosaur
and a plesiosaur, probably collected by Mary.
147
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