Mary Leakey was born on February 6, 1913 in London. She married archaeologist, Louis B. S. Leakey and the pair was one of science’s best-known husband-wife teams. While excvating the Olduvai Gorge in Africa, Mary discovered a skull fossil of an ancestor of apes and humans. This find helped illuminate the origins of humankind. Mary continued working after her husband's death. She died in 1996.

Profile:
Archaeologist. Born Mary Douglas Nicol on February 6, 1913, in London, England. Mary Leakey is best known for her discoveries in Africa, which advanced our understanding of the origins of humankind. The daughter of an artist, she excelled at drawing. Leakey used this talent as her entry into the field of archaeology; she served as an illustrator at a dig in England when she was only seventeen.

In 1930s, Mary Leakey was asked to illustrate a book entitled Adam??s Ancestors (1934). The work??s author was Louis B. S. Leakey, an archaeologist and anthropologist, and the pair soon developed a personal relationship. They married in 1937, forming one of science??s most well-known husband-wife teams. The couple moved to Africa as part of Louis Leakey??s excavation of the Olduvai Gorge in what is now Tanzania.

In 1948, Mary Leakey made her first big discovery??a partial skull fossil of Proconsul africanus, an ancestor of apes and humans, which later developed into the two distinct species. This was a remarkable find; it was the fir.