Mary Anning

1799 –1847 aged 47 (breast cancer)

Mary Anning spent most of her life in poverty and lacked formal education - she learnt to read and write at Sunday School.

Famous for discoveries she made in marine fossil beds at Lyme Regis, Dorset.

At the age of 12, Anning discovered the first correctly identified ichthyosaur fossil. Other discoveries include two nearly complete plesiosaur skeletons and the first pterosaur to be found in England.

Anning could not join London's Geological Society because she was a woman and she was often frustrated by the lack of recognition she received in scientific publications.