three interesting facts about florence bascom

When Mary started making her fossil discoveries in the early 1800s, geology was a burgeoning science. She and her brother are responsible for the discovery of the first Ichthyosaurs specimen, as well as the first plesiosaur. Mary had a keen eye for anatomy and was an expert fossil collector. Upon his death, Richard left the family with significant debt, so Mary and her brother turned to fossil-collecting and selling to make a living.

The chalky rocks provided a life-line to Mary, her brother and mother, when her father died eleven years after Mary was born. On the family’s doorstep were the fossil-rich cliffs of the Jurassic coast. Hailing from the coastal town of Lyme Regis in the UK, Mary was born to Richard Anning, a carpenter with an interest in fossil collecting. Grey’ in Crispin Tickell’s book ‘Mary Anning of Lyme Regis’ (1996). who made important contributions to the field, please let us know! We found it particularly hard to find more about women in geology in non-English speaking country, so if you know of women in France, Germany, Spain, etc. There are many others who have contributed significantly to advancing the study of the planet, so please add their names and why you think they are deserving of the title of Mother of Geology, in the comment section below. In the style of our network blogger, Matt Herod, we’ve prepared a poll for you to cast your votes! We’ve picked five leading ladies of the geoscience to feature here, but they should only serve as inspiration. But who the title of Mother of Geology should go to is up for debate, and we want your help to settle it! William Smith, the coal miner and canal builder, who produced the first geological map certainly makes the cut as a key figure in the history of geological sciences, as does Alfred Wegener, whose initially contested theory of continental drift forms the basis of how we understand the Earth today.Įqually deserving of attention, but often overlooked, are the women who have made ground-breaking advances to the understanding of the Earth. Much ink is spilled hailing the work of the early fathers of geology – and rightly so! James Hutton is the mind behind the theory of uniformitarianism, which underpins almost every aspect of geology and argues that processes operating at present operated in the same manner over geological time, while Sir Charles Lyell furthered the idea of geological time.

Three interesting facts about florence bascom