Mary Anning was a self-taught paleontologist whose genius for finding and identifying fossils changed the world's understanding of prehistoric life. Living on the 'Jurassic Coast' of Dorset, she discovered the first complete Ichthyosaur skeleton at just 12 years old. Her later finds included the first two Plesiosaur skeletons and the first Pterosaur located outside of Germany. Anning’s meticulous observations and anatomical knowledge were sought after by the leading scientists of her day, though she was often excluded from the scientific community because she was a woman of lower social class. Her work provided essential evidence for the then-radical idea of extinction and helped pave the way for evolutionary theory.