Mary Anning
Mary Anning was one of the most remarkable figures in the history of British science. Born in 1799 in Lyme Regis, Dorset, she became famous for discovering spectacular fossils along what is now known as the Jurassic Coast. Despite having little formal education and living at a time when women were largely excluded from professional science, her discoveries helped transform Victorian understanding of prehistoric life and extinction.

Growing up in Lyme Regis

Mary was born into a poor family. Her father, Richard Anning, supplemented the family's income by collecting fossils from the cliffs and beaches around Lyme Regis and selling them to visitors. Mary learned to search for fossils from an early age. After her father died in 1810, the family struggled financially, and fossil hunting became an important source of income. The cliffs around Lyme Regis were - and still are - extraordinary places for fossils. The Jurassic rocks contain creatures that lived around 200 million years ago, including marine reptiles, ammonites and other ancient animals.

Her extraordinary discoveries

Mary Anning made several discoveries that became famous throughout the scientific world.

Ichthyosaur

When Mary was a young teenager, she helped uncover the skeleton of a large marine reptile called an ichthyosaur. The discovery caused enormous excitement because it revealed an animal unlike anything living in Britain at the time.

Plesiosaur

In 1823, she discovered an almost complete skeleton of a plesiosaur - a spectacular long-necked marine reptile. Some scientists initially found the animal so strange that they questioned whether the skeleton was genuine.

Pterosaur

Mary also discovered the first pterosaur skeleton found in Britain, helping scientists understand that reptiles had once flown through prehistoric skies. In the early 19th century, scientists were still trying to understand: • How old the Earth was • Whether species could become extinct • What fossils actually represented • How the history of life had developed Mary's discoveries provided physical evidence that the Earth had once been inhabited by creatures completely unlike those alive today. Her fossils helped support the growing scientific understanding of extinction and prehistoric life. Although Mary was respected by many scientists, she did not receive the recognition she deserved during her lifetime. She was a woman in a male- dominated scientific world, from a working-class background and largely self-taught Wealthy collectors and scientists often bought or studied her fossils, while receiving much of the public credit themselves. However, many leading scientists knew exactly how skilled she was. She became an expert not just at finding fossils, but at: • Excavating specimens • Cleaning and preparing fossils • Identifying different creatures • Understanding geological layers

A dangerous occupation

Fossil hunting around Lyme Regis could be extremely dangerous. The cliffs regularly collapsed, particularly during winter storms. Mary and her dog, Tray, often searched the beaches after storms, when new fossils had been exposed. In 1833, Mary narrowly survived a landslide that killed Tray. Despite the dangers, she continued fossil hunting for most of her life. Today, Mary Anning is recognised as one of the great pioneers of palaeontology. Her legacy can be seen throughout Lyme Regis and along the Jurassic Coast. She is particularly remembered for proving that scientific discovery does not necessarily come from universities, laboratories or wealthy institutions. A determined young woman from a small Dorset town helped change humanity's understanding of the ancient world.

A remarkable legacy

Mary Anning died in 1847, aged just 47. Today, she is celebrated as: One of Britain's greatest fossil hunters and one of the most important pioneers in the history of palaeontology. Her story has inspired books, films and exhibitions - including the film Ammonite, loosely inspired by her life. The most remarkable thing about Mary Anning is that she made many of her discoveries simply by walking the beaches around Lyme Regis, carefully looking at the rocks beneath her feet - and recognising that they contained evidence of an entire lost world.

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