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Mary Anning was about twelve when, in 1812, she dug out a fossil skeleton on the Dorset coast whose skull her brother Joseph had found. It was the first ichthyosaur, an extinct sea reptile, to reach scientists in London. Her later finds, including a plesiosaur, showed that very different marine reptiles had once lived.

Historical account — Natural History Museum; Geological Society of London

ScienceHistory

The story behind the card

The surgeon Everard Home described the ichthyosaur from 1814 without crediting Mary for finding and preparing it. In 1823 she found a nearly complete plesiosaur, a sea reptile with a very long neck; the French anatomist Georges Cuvier at first suspected a fake, then admitted he was wrong. The Annings were poor, and Mary kept the family by selling fossils from the cliffs around Lyme Regis to collectors and visitors. Gentlemen who bought her finds often published them without naming her. The Geological Society of London did not admit women as Fellows until 1919, long after her death in 1847.

Türkçe oku
Mary Anning, 1812'de henüz on iki yaşlarındayken, ağabeyi Joseph'in kafatasını bulduğu fosil iskeleti Dorset kıyısında kazıp çıkardı. Bu, Londra'daki bilim çevrelerinin dikkatini çeken ilk ihtiyozordu; ihtiyozorlar soyu tükenmiş deniz sürüngenleridir. Sonraki buluşları, bir zamanlar denizlerde birbirinden çok farklı sürüngenlerin yaşadığını gösterdi.

Cerrah Everard Home, ihtiyozoru 1814'ten itibaren yayımladığı yazılarda tanıttı, ama fosili bulan ve hazırlayan Mary'nin adını anmadı. Mary 1823'te neredeyse eksiksiz bir plesiyozor buldu; uzun boyunlu bu deniz sürüngenini gören Fransız anatomist Georges Cuvier önce sahte olduğundan şüphelendi, sonra yanıldığını kabul etti. Anning ailesi yoksuldu; Mary, Lyme Regis çevresindeki deniz kenarı yamaçlarından topladığı fosilleri koleksiyonculara ve ziyaretçilere satarak evi geçindiriyordu. Buluntularını satın alan beyefendiler çoğu zaman onları Mary'nin adını anmadan yayımladı. Londra Jeoloji Derneği kadınları ancak 1919'da, Mary'nin 1847'deki ölümünden çok sonra üyeliğe kabul etti.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Mary Anning
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