Shen Kuo wrote about UFOs and the metaphysical in the same text in which he detailed amazing scientific work. Shen’s work “Dream Pool Essays” is more akin to a series of Reddit posts than a scientific journal, but does that make him less of a scientist? Or is our view of science a culturally-biased concept?
Shen Kuo was a talented 11th Century Chinese paleontologist. He wrote at length about sedimentation, geomorphology, marine fossils in mountain peaks and how the distribution of fossil bamboo meant climate had changed through time. He was a foundational paleontologist, and we should know more about him.
Anningiae: how gender bias and myth making obscure who the real Mary Anning was. The Anning we celebrate today is based on sexist and classist biases meant to belittle her true scientific accomplishments. Anning was not a simple country woman selling sea shells by the sea shore.
Mary Anning owed her aptitude as a paleontologist to her friends and colleagues. The sexist beliefs of some of these allies also prevented her from reaching her full potential. This week, I look into how Mary’s relationships shaped her and inform us on her real personality.
Mary Anning was one of the most important paleontologists in history. In part 1 of this series we look at her contributions to paleontology.
I start a series on the top 5 diverse paleontologists most people don’t know about.
Bias in the Fossil Record 