April 2 – Happy Birthday, Maria Sibylla Merian

nPostednon April 2, 2014

Shenlived in Germany and the Netherlands, and she traveled for two yearsnin Suriname, in South America. She was an artist and a scientist. –nAnd all of that is so much more remarkable because she lived in then17^th and 18^th Centuries!

nBornnon this date in 1647 in Frankfurt, in what is now Germany but wasnthen the Holy Roman Empire, Maria Sibylla Merian was fascinated byninsects as a child. She would often collect caterpillars to be ablento watch their metamorphosis into butterflies and moths.

nShenalso drew and painted as a child, encouraged by her artistnstepfather. Naturally, she drew and painted insects.

nAsna married woman living in Germany, Merian illustrated plants andnanimals for books and catalogs, and she also gave drawing lessons tonrich young ladies. That was a pretty nice gig for her, because shenhad access to fine gardens – and therefore plenty of insects!

nInnthe late 1600s, Merian moved to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, andndivorced her husband. She was able to study some fine insectncollections, but she wondered what the gorgeous butterflies and mothsnlooked like as caterpillars and chrysalises. She did a bold andnuncommon thing: she traveled with her youngest daughter to SouthnAmerica to study the plants and animals in the Dutch colony ofnSuriname. n

Meriannspent two years in Suriname. She criticized the Dutch planters’ntreatment of the native peoples and of African slaves – but she wasnin naturalist heaven! She not only sketched local animals and plants,nshe also recorded their Native American names and described thenplants’ uses by locals. Unfortunately, Merian’s expedition ended whennshe fell ill with malaria.

nWhennshe returned to the Netherlands, Merian was able to sell specimens ofninsects she had collected, and to publish illustrations of the plantnand animal life of Suriname. In 1705 she published a volume aboutnjust the insects of Suriname.

nInnher own time, Merian was largely ignored by scientists. Is thatnbecause she was a woman, or because she wrote about plants andnanimals using common German language, rather than Latin? n

Itnmay have been partly because of Merian’s unusual interest in insects.nInsects in general did not have a great reputation—they werendespised by most and were often called names like “beasts of thendevil.” Most male scientists were drawn to study larger, granderncreatures, and those who studied and collected insects tended tonstudy the dead, preserved bodies of the creatures.

nInsteadnof just studying dead insects, Merian observed live ones out innnature. She even raised insects and studied them throughout theirnlife cycle. She learned details of insect metamorphosis that werenlargely unknown before. She gathered evidence that insects were NOTn“born of mud,” as most people believed. She described insectnbehavior and the impact of one species on others. Also, because ofnher trip to Suriname, Merian was the first European to describe andnillustrate important insects such as leaf-cutter ants, army ants, andnbirdeater tarantulas. n

nThen“Father of Entomology,” William Kirby, wasn’t born until morenthan four decades after Merian’s death. What I want to know is, whynisn’t Merian considered the “Mother of Entomology”?

Merian’snillustrations are still valued by collectors today, and hernclassifications, descriptions, and illustrations are still relevant.nShe has been honored with her picture on postage stamps and money,nher name on a research vessel and on several schools, and even anGoogle doodle!

nBynthe way, one important thing that Merian did was to use NativenAmerican names to refer to plants, with the result that these namesnwere used in Europe. What a great idea – instead of splatteringnyour own name on everything you see, how about listening to othersnwho have already “discovered” these things, and using theirnnames? Wonderful!