Discovering dinosaurs

Dinosaurs are nothing new to us - most children find out about and are fascinated by these prehistoric monsters when they are very young. Fossils aren't a novel idea either - we know about them, and where they came from and how they form an important strand of scientific evidence which supports the theory of evolution. But only a couple of hundred years ago these things were not taken for granted at all. In fact they were very new, very exciting - and the cause of intense rivalry, the making and breaking of fortunes and an enormous split between the religious beliefs of the day and scientists. What is more, the discovery of fossils and the understanding of dinosaurs is an area of science where, even all those years ago, women as well as men played an important rôle.

Remember that no-one knew what these strange fossils were - some people thought they were animals which had spontaneously generated deep within the Earth and which had then grown in the stone. Other people thought they were put in the rocks by God to decorate the inside of the Earth just as he had placed flowers to decorate the outside. Yet others thought they were there to test the faith of believers and tempt people away from belief in direct creation as described in Genesis.

At the bottom of this page there is a list of names of some of the women who struggled alongside men such as Gideon Mantell, Richard Owen and Charles Darwin to understand and explain the fossil record which gradually emerged from the rocks in the 19th century. Click on each in turn to find out more about this fascinating stage in scientific history.

Mary Anning

Etheldred Benett

Mary Woodhouse/Gideon Mantell

Mary Morland