Most know her famous husband, Louis Leakey, mentor of important primate researchers such as Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Biruté Galdikas. But less people know the true woman, Mary Leakey.
I dug things up. I was curious. I liked to draw what I found. “- Mary Leakey
Mary Douglas Nicol was born on February 6, 1913. She was always interested in archaeology, being allowed to participate in archaeological digs where she found ancient stone tools when she was young.
You only find what you are looking for, really, if the truth be known.”- Mary Leakey
She soon established herself as an authority on flint points and was recognised for her mastery of scientific illustration. She was introduced to Louis Leakey in 1933. Louis invited her to join him in Africa to draw the stone tools he had found. Three years later, they married. They had three sons together.
In retirement, she continued to contribute to science, writing articles about her lifetime of incredible discoveries. She died in 1996 at the age of eighty-three.
Among her many scientific accomplishments, Mary is credited with the discovery of Proconsul africanus in 1948, Zinjanthropus boisei (now known as Australopithecus boisei) in 1959, Homo habilis in 1960, and an amazingly well-preserved 89-foot long trail of early human footprints found at Laetoli (1979), according to www.leakey.com . She is truly an inspiration to girls everywhere for her groundbreaking work.
I’d rather be in a tent than in a house. “- Mary Leakey
Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas has studied and worked closely with the orangutans of Indonesian Borneo in their natural habitat, and is today the world’s foremost authority on the orangutan, according to the Orangutan Foundation International.
She was born after World War II and wanted to be an explorer ever since she was young. When she was a graduate student, she met Kenyan anthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey and spoke with him about her desire to study orangutans.
“There’s something about them that spoke to me, even as a youngster. I felt a connection with them through the power of their eyes. I wanted to study them, and as soon as you begin studying them you realise they are in grave danger of extinction, so I started conservation work almost at the same time that I started studying them in the wilds of Borneo.”- Galdikas, in a interview with Forests News
Although Dr. Leakey seemed disinterested at first, Galdikas persuaded him of her passion. After three years, Dr. Leakey finally found the funding for Galdikas’ orangutan studies, as he had previously done with both Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey for their respective studies on chimpanzees and mountain gorillas.
When she arrived in Tanjung Puting Reserve in Indonesian Borneo. She set up “Camp Leakey”, named after her mentor and began documenting the ecology and behavior of the wild orangutans. Four years later, she wrote the cover article for National Geographic Magazine, bringing orangutans widespread international public attention for the first time.
Dr. Galdikas has lectured extensively on the orangutans and their tropical rain forest habitat to thousands of people and numerous institutions in Indonesia and throughout the world.
From March 1996 through the end of March 1998 under a special decree, Galdikas served as a Senior Advisor on orangutan issues to Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry. In June 1997, she won the prestigious “Kalpataru” award, the highest honor given by the Republic of Indonesia for outstanding environmental leadership. She is the only person of non-Indonesian birth and one of the first women to be so recognized by the Indonesian government.
From The New York Times
Featured twice on the cover of National Geographic, and the author of scores of scientific articles and reviews, Galdikas has published four books, including her autobiography, Reflections of Eden. Galdikas has also co-edited scientific volumes and served as Book Reviews editor for a primatological journal. Galdikas has been featured in New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and numerous television documentaries such as CBC’s The Third Angel, Connie Chung’s Eye to Eye, and In the Wild with Julia Roberts.
Her awards include:
Indonesia’s Hero for the Earth Award (Kalpataru)
Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement
Institute of Human Origins Science Award
Officer, Order of Canada
PETA Humanitarian Award
United Nations Global 500 Award
Sierra Club Chico Mendes Award
Eddie Bauer Hero for the Earth
Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Medal (Canada)
Chevron Conservation Award
Pride of Lithuania Award
Gold Medal for Conservation, Chester Zoological Society (UK)
Explorer and Leadership Award, Royal Geographic Society of Spain
Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Medal (Canada)
Satya Lencana Pembangunan Medal (Indonesia)
She is an inspiration for many girls around the world who are interested in such fascinating creatures.
“Understand well as I may, my comprehension can only be an infinitesimal fraction of all I want to understand.”- Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace was a tech pioneer who was instrumental in bringing the first generation of mechanical computers to life, opening the door to the advanced computer we take for granted today.
Augusta Ada Byron was born on December 10, 1815, the only child of George Gordon Noel Byron and Anabelle Milbanke. Lord Byron was a famous poet noted for his wild lifestyle. He separated with Lady Byron when Ada was only a month old, yet maintained an active interest in her, saying in his dying words how regretful he would not live to see his daughter.
“…the child of love- though born in bitterness, and nurtured in convulsion.”- Lord Byron on Ada
Lady Byron was very strict with Ada, often subjecting her to hours of instruction when she was four, even continuing her education when she was sick. Ada herself was quite smart when she was young, inventing her own flying machine when she was about twelve or thirteen.
Ada married William King, Earl of Lovelace, on July 8, 1935, having three children with her.
Ada Lovelace helped Charles Babbage translate his papers on the Difference Engine, adding her own notes as well, becoming one of the first science writers. She died on 27 November, 1852.
“The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform.”- Ada Lovelace
In recognition of her work, the Ada programming language was designed by the U.S.A. Department of defense, allowing programmers from different areas work together more easily. Ada Lovelace Day has been celebrated in mid- October each year since 2009.
For further reading: Tech Pioneers: Ada Lovelace by Gina Hagler
Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey was born on 7 August 1903 in Kabete, Kenya. He was a famous paleontologist, archeologist and anthropologist who spent his life contributing to our understanding of humans. He led fossil-finding expeditions in East Africa and uncovered over 100 species of extinct animals along with his wife, Mary.
He was the first white baby the Kenyan tribe had ever seen, and became interested in ornithology, discovering stone arrowheads and tools.
Leakey married Mary Nicol in 1937 after divorcing his first wife, whom he had two children with. He later had three with Mary.
After World War II, Louis Leakey became curator of the Coryndon Memorial Museum in Nairobi, and worked with other organizations that focused on prehistoric research and inquiry.
“Far too often animals are put to sleep when they could be saved through proper care and nursing.” -Louis Leakey
Having done previous excavation work at Olduvai Gorge, unearthing ancient tools and animal fossils, in 1959 the Leakeys began major excavations at the site. In 1960, their son Jonathan and the Leakey team made another major fossil find, that of Homo habilis, humanity’s earliest discovered ancestor thus far. Louis Leakey, who also discovered a Homo erectus skull at the site, later theorized that H. habilis and Z. bosei represented separate, co-existing hominid lineages, a claim met with initial skepticism from peers. (Later findings would support Leakey in his assertion.)
“I have examined the stomach contents of seven aardvarks.”-Louis Leakey
The Olduvai discoveries were a sensation, greatly illuminating humanity’s origins. Leakey turned away from excavations in Africa—with son Richard and Mary continuing his work—and focused on fundraising, lecturing and primatology, mentoring Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey. He also helped Birutė Galdikas in her orangutan studies (after some persuasion).
“… it was in Kenya that I met the eminent paleontologist, Dr Louis Leakey. He was impressed by my knowledge of African animals (I had read every book I could find) and sent me to observe chimpanzees in what was then Tanganyika. He felt that a knowledge of the primate most like us would help him to better understand the probable behavior of our Stone Age ancestors whose fossilized remains he was excavating. He took me despite my lack of academic credentials — or even because of them as he wanted someone with a mind uncluttered by the reductionist scientific thinking of the time.”-Jane Goodall, in the interview with Time Magazine “Dr. Jane Goodall: Being a Woman Was Crucial to My Success in a Male-Dominated Field”.
Louis Leakey with Jane Goodall in 1970. Photo from The Leakey Foundation Archive.
Louis Leakey died on October 1, 1972, in London, England. Leakey published many books over his lifetime, including The Stone Age Cultures of Kenya Colony (1931), White African: An Early Autobiography (1937), Mau Mau and the Kikuyu (1952) and Unveiling Man’s Origins(1969), with Vanne M. Goodall.
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