Today, Google Doodle is celebrating the 100th birthday of British anthropologist and archaeologist, Mary Leakey. Leakey made a significant contribution to the science of evolution when she discovered fossilized humanoid footprints belonging to extinct human ancestors, the australopithecines, which helped prove that humanoids were walking upright long before it was previously thought.
Born in London in 1913, Leakey was a life long lover of fossils. When she was 12, she was given the opportunity to accompany a famed French archaeologist and on this trip she began her collection of blades, points and scrapers, sparking her passion for prehistory.
Her discovery of australopithecines made the Leakeys world famous because it was her discovery was thought to be the infamous missing link in evolution. Though that theory has since been disproved, Leakey’s fame has remained. Throughout the span of her career, she is credited for making a number of other notable discoveries including the skull of a prehistoric ape-like humanoid which was found to be an ancestor of modern humans.
Mary Leakey died in 1993 with an impressive resume as not only an archaeologist, but a philanthropist as well. She contributed greatly to the world of archaeology by conducting her own discoveries and greatly assisting in the research of her colleagues.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Despite her notable contributions, her career was greatly overshadowed by her famous paleontologist husband, Louis Leakey.
- Leakey is credited with devising a way to classify stone tools found in excavations.
- Her three sons, Richard, Jonathan and Philip, also opted for careers in archaeology and the entire family would often explore sites together.
- Unsurprisingly, Leakey was greatly inspired by the theories of Charles Darwin.
- The Leakey Foundation, a foundation inspired by the Leakey family, aims to further scientific knowledge, education and the public’s understanding of human origins, behavior and survival.