Maria Sibylla Merian ((1647-1717) was a German naturalist and scientific illustrator who studied plants and insects and made detailed paintings about them. While her contribution to entomology is not widely known, it at least has the distinction of being recognised with a Google Doodle.
She has also been honoured on old German banknotes - before they took what many must now regard as the ill-fated decision to scrap it all in favour of the Euro.
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| Anna Maria Sibylla Merian auf der 500 DM Banknote |
Here's a picture of her looking less old and wrinkled:
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| Portrait of Maria Sibylla Merian |
Examples of her artwork and engravings might serve to illustrate why she is deserving of recnet (albeit belated) honours:
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| Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium |
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| Plate LXXXV. from Erucarum Ortus Alimentum et Paradoxa Metamorphosis (1679-1717 |
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| Illuminated Copper-engraving from Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, Plate VI. 1705 |
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| Illuminated Copper-engraving from Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandlung und sonderbare Blumennahrung, Plate CLXIX |
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| Illuminated Copper-engraving from Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, Plate XXIII. Solanum mammosum 1705 |
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| Illuminated Copper-engraving from Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, Plate XLVIII. 1705 |
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| Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus) and a False Coral Snake (Anilius scytale) |
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| Illuminated Copper-engraving from Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, Plate XXVII. Musa paradisiaca, 1705 |
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| Colored copper engraving from Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, Plate XLIII. "Spiders, ants and hummingbird on a branch of a guava" (Tarantula: Avicularia avicularia) |
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| Illuminated Copper engraving from Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, Plate IX. Maria Sibylla Merian, 1705 |
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