“I dug things up. I was curious. I liked to draw what I found” … “I had never passed a single school exam, and clearly never would.” ~~ Mary Leakey,
(February 6, 1913 – December 9, 1996), British archaeologist and anthropologist, and world renown distinguished fossil hunter. Leakey discovered the first fossilized Proconsul skull, an extinct ape now believed to be ancestral to humans.
Today, would have been Leakey’s 100th birthday, and Google paid homage to her life and works with a lovely doodle, an exploratory-inspired theme representing one of her many achievements – the discovery of 3.5 million-year-old fossilized hominid footprints. She is also known as a “giant in the study of human origins.”
Happy 100th B-Day Mary Leakey! Leakey also discovered the robust Zinjanthropus skull at Olduvai Gorge. For much of her career she worked together with her husband, Louis Leakey, in Olduvai Gorge, uncovering the tools and fossils of ancient hominines.
She developed a system for classifying the stone tools found at Olduvai. She also discovered the Laetoli footprints.
In 1960 she became director of excavation at Olduvai and subsequently took it over, building her own staff. After the death of her husband, she became a leading paleo-anthropologist, helping to establish the Leakey tradition by training her son, Richard, in the field.
Leakey, a renowned paleo-anthropologist, had not only conducted significant research of her own, but had been invaluable to the research careers of her husband Louis Leakey and their sons Richard, Philip and Jonathan.
Additional Resources :
♦ Leakey.com website
♦ Mary Leakey, Wikipedia
♦ Mary Leakey 100th birthday: Google doodle honours famous British archaeologist and anthropologist, Mirror UK
♦ Mary Leakey’s 100th Birthday, National Geographic
♦ Leakey family discovers human ancestors, PBS
All photos courtesy of Wikimedia and screen shots taken from video and websites. All other photos will be credited as required. </font>
Please visit this blog frequently and share this with your social media and professional network. Thanks.
Comments