The People .

Mary Anning was the great fossil hunter. She was ten when her father died. After his death, Mary Anning used what she had learnt from her father and went down one day to look for fossils, the circumstances of the family not being good. She found an ammonite and when she was walking home, a lady in the street saw the ammonite in her hand and bought it for half-a-crown. In 1811, in a block of fallen shale, her brother found a massive skull and Mary went back to investigate. Over a period of months, Mary slowly picked away the rock to expose the remains. Eventually, she revealed an entire ichthyosaur — the first complete specimen ever discovered. In 1828, Mary found the first specimen of the pterosaur - a winged creature with a huge head like a toucan's. The next year she discovered a fossil fish-a weird thing halfway between shark and ray. Although Mary grew up in poverty and lacked a formal education, she taught herself so well that she was visited and consulted by many eminent scientists of the era. They all acknowledge that she understands more of the science than anyone else in this kingdom.