Mary Anning Google Logo Marks Life Of Famous Paleontologist Born Over 200 Years Ago

Google continues its roll to celebrate the women who have shaped our world, with today’s Google logo recognizing one of the world’s leading paleontologist Mary Anning.

The animated illustration depicts Anning uncovering dinosaur fossils shaped to resemble the Google logo. Born on this date in 1799, Anning began hunting fossils at a young age in her hometown of England’s seaside resort Lyme Regis.

Anning’s first big find was the remains of an ichthyosaur when she was only 12 years old.

From London’s National History Museum website:

The greatest fossil hunter ever known was a woman from Lyme Regis. Mary Anning’s discoveries were some of the most significant geological finds of all time. They provided evidence that was central to the development of new ideas about the history of the Earth.

Anning is also credited with finding a the skeleton of a Plesiosaurus, Pterodactylus and Squaloraja. Hunting on the cliffs of Lyme Regis, the Natural History Museum claims Anning’s hometown was rich with fossils left from the Jurassic seas more than 200 million years ago.

While Anning’s fossil hunting talents failed to earn her any wealth during her lifetime, she was a sought after fossil expert. As a woman, the Geological Society of London would not allow Anning entry into their organization, even though it did join the British Association for the Advancement of Science to award the famous paleontologist an annuity nine years before Anning’s death.

Mary Anning died in 1847 at the age of 47 from breast cancer. In 2005, the Natural History Museum in London added Anning to its gallery, and in 2010 London’s Royal Society listed her among the ten most influential British women in the history of science.