'''Mary Anning''' was an English fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist. She became known internationally for her discoveries in Jurassic marine fossil beds in the cliffs along the English Channel at Lyme Regis in the county of Dorset, Southwest England. Anning's findings contributed to changes in scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth.

Anning searched for fossils in the area's Blue Lias and Charmouth Mudstone cliffs, particularly during the winter months when landslides exposed new fossils that had to be collected quickly before they were lost to the sea. Her discoveries included the first correctly identified ichthyosaur skeleton when she was twelve years old; the first two nearly complete plesiosaur skeletons; the first pterosaur skeleton located outside Germany; and fish fossils. Her observations played a key role in the discovery that coprolites, known as bezoar stones at the time, were fossilised faeces, and she also discovered that belemnite fossils contained fossilised ink sacs like those of modern cephalopods.

Anning was one of two surviving children born to cabinetmaker and amateur fossil collector Richard Anning and his wife, Mary Moore. The family relied on the sale of fossils collected from seaside cliffs near their home along England’s Channel coast as a source of income. After Richard’s death in 1810, the family mainly relied on charity. Mary, her brother, Joseph, and their mother, who were skilled fossil collectors themselves, supplemented their meagre resources by selling fossils of invertebrates, such as ammonoids and belemnoids, to collectors and scholars. In 1817 the fossils attracted the attention of British fossil collector Lieut. Col. Thomas Birch, who assisted the family financially by purchasing a number of specimens. Later he auctioned off his collection and donated the proceeds to the Anning family during a particularly desperate period in their lives.

News of Anning’s fossil excavations made her a celebrity and prompted paleontologists, collectors, and tourists to descend on Lyme Regis to buy from her. Anning taught herself geology, anatomy, paleontology, and scientific illustration. Despite her lack of formal scientific training, her discoveries, local area knowledge, and skill at classifying fossils in the field earned her a reputation among paleontology’s male and largely upper-class ranks. Her later hunting expeditions sometimes included famous scientists of the time, including British geologist and minister William Buckland and British anatomist and paleontologist Richard Owen, who proposed the term Dinosauria in 1842. She also corresponded with and sold fossils to other leading scientists, such as Cuvier and English geologist Adam Sedgwick.

Nevertheless, Anning was not given full credit for many of the fossils she excavated. Collectors donating specimens to institutions tended to be credited with their discovery. Of the many specimens she found and recovered, several were described in prestigious journals without even a mention of her name. However, some famous scientists of the time, such as British geologist Henry De la Beche and British paleontologist Gideon Mantell, did credit her in their work.

Toward the end of her life, Anning collected annuities from the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Geological Society of London, which were set up in recognition of her contributions to science. After she died of breast cancer in 1847, the president of the Geological Society eulogized her in his annual address, even though the first women would not be admitted to the organization until 1904. Nonetheless, after her death her story was taken up by writers and poets as an inspiration to many people who wish to pursue a career in Paleontology.

All published appearances of Mary Anning before January 1, 1929 are public domain.

Some Notable Appearances are listed below:

*The Heroine of Lyme Regis: The Story of Mary Anning the Celebrated Geologist (1925)

*Wikipedia
*[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/mary-anning/4005-151609/ Comicvine]
*Paleontology Wiki
*Modinos Wiki
*[https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/anning.html UCMP]
*[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Anning Britannica]
*[https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/mary-anning-8375.php The Famous People]
*[https://www.famousscientists.org/mary-anning/ Famous Scientists]
*[https://historical-figures-in-media.fandom.com/wiki/Mary_Anning Historical Figures in Media Wiki]
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