Ever heard of the tongue twister “she sells seashells by the seashore?” This pint glass features the inspiration for that tricky sentence: Mary Anning. Anning was an English fossil collector, dealer, and paleontologist. She discovered the first ichthyosaur, plesiosaur, and pterosaur skeletons, and made a living selling the fossils she found to tourists. Anning would search cliffs along the seaside near her house. These cliffs often had landslides that exposed fossils, which Anning needed to collect quickly before they were washed out to sea. One of these landslides nearly killed Anning in 1833. Her dog, Tray, was not so lucky. Say a toast to Tray and his owner’s revolutionary findings.

When it’s time to celebrate your favorite physicist, lab partner, or professor, who better to present?

Your biggest discoveries always lie ahead.

View all in the Heroes of Science Series