
Mary Leakey gets a Google Doodle.
Google loves a good doodle. Whether they’re honoring inventions, musicians, politicians, or in this case, famous scientists. The adorable doodle of a female archaeologist surrounded by dalmatians while dusting off a set of ancient preserved footprints is none other than Mary Leakey. Google is honoring Mary Leakey on her 100th birthday; she passed away on December 9, 1996, at age 83. She’s one of a famous family of archaeologists and researchers as her husband Louis and sons Jonathan, Richard, and Philip are all involved in the trade and have often researched as a family.
The doodle honors Leakey’s most famous discovery: 3.5 million year old footprints of an australopithicus (an ancient humanoid ancestor) discovered at Laetoli in Tanzania. That’s not all she discovered, either. She also uncovered the skull of a proconsul as well as the skull of a Zinjanthropus at Olduvai Gorge. She even created a classification system for the ancient stone tools she uncovered in her many years of research. I think it goes without saying that she dug up a lot of weird cavemen-looking things.
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