Name: Maria Sibylla Merian: The woman who changed science forever | BBC Ideas
Uploaded: 2022-03-06T18:00:26.000Z
Duration: 4 min 7 s
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Adverbs of degree

It's hard to imagine but just 300 years ago,

Basic passive voice

it was widely believed that insects spontaneously spawned

Their reproduction was felt to be so strange and frightening,

It's partly thanks to the work of naturalist and illustrator,

Today Merian is celebrated as one of the world's first ecologists.

She is admired by Sir David Attenborough,

who described her as one of the most significant contributors

But she faced many challenges in her journey to educate the world,

Born into a family of artists in Frankfurt in 1647,

Merian spent her childhood collecting insects

In 1665, she married and soon had two daughters.

In an age where a woman's place was thought to be in the home,

publishing her first book, New Book of Flowers, in 1675.

hatch from eggs after reproduction and do not just magically appear.

sold her belongings and set sail to Suriname in South America

She's thought to be the first woman to travel in the name of science.

After a long sea journey, they set off into the jungle,

battling through thick clouds of black flies

that inflicted skin-ripping bites - but it was worth it.

The jungles of Suriname were a naturalists' paradise,

teeming with species that would later be documented

'The Metamorphosis of the Insects of Suriname', published in 1705.

Its stunning illustrations depicted stages of development of Suriname's

veracious caterpillars and vibrant butterflies,

as well as many other creatures from this exotic habitat.

Uniquely for the time, she also portrayed insects surrounded

revealing their relationship to the wider ecosystem.

She was the first to show that the change from caterpillar to butterfly

Merian's adventure was cut short by illness

and after two years she returned to Amsterdam.

Given the challenges of working in a humid and unfamiliar environment,

it is remarkable how many species she was able to observe

Her writing is also notable for acknowledging the mistreatment

of enslaved indigenous and African people

She wrote in her description of the peacock flower,

'The Indians, who are not treated well by their Dutch masters,

so that they will not become slaves like themselves.'

Merian suffered a stroke in 1715 that left her unable to work.

To date, at least six plants, nine butterflies, two bugs,

a spider and a lizard, have been named after her.

Despite being over 300 years old, her work on the biodiversity

of Suriname is still valued by scientists

and could show us how some species may adapt to climate change.