Mary Douglas Nicol was born 100 years ago on February 6, 1913, in London, England to Erskine Edward Nicol and Cecilia Marion (Frere) Nicol. She was expelled from two Catholic Schools and was told to not waste her time applying to Oxford. Decades later they bestowed an honorary degree, so perhaps she made the right choice after all: a degree without the college loans.
Mary met and married Louis Leakey and went on to discover 3.5 million year old foot prints on a trail that walks across the African continent. The Laetoli Footprints were the oldest known connection to our bi-pedal ancestors to have been found
Laetoli Footprint discovered by Mary Leakey
Truthfully, I don’t know much about Mary Leakey, but I know I’ve secretly wanted her life out on the African savannah discovering jaw bones and skulls; I’ve wanted he life of adventure and freedom and most importantly, I wanted her life that seemed so full of curiosity, discovery and unearthing our past so as to better understand our future.
Happy Birthday, Mrs. Leakey and thank you for all you have done to break the glass ceiling for women archeologists, scientists and anthropologists.
Hip Hip Horray.
Related articles
- Google doodle celebrates British archaeologist (oddonion.com)
- Google doodle celebrates British archaeologist (guardian.co.uk)
- My Perfect Adventure: Philip Leakey (outsideonline.com)
- Mary Leakey Honored With Google Doodle (webpronews.com)
- Erratic Environment May Be Key to Human Evolution (livescience.com)
