Women have been making scientific discoveries since ancient times. Twelve women have won the Nobel Prize for science, one of the highest honors in the world. Some women scientists never married, some worked with their husbands, and others raised large families. It has been difficult for women to be successful scientists.
In the early 1800s in England, Mary Anning became one of the first women recognized for her discoveries about the ancient history of the earth. Mary and her father collected fossils (化石) in their village on the south coast of Great Britain. Fossils are parts of plants or animals that have been saved in rocks for millions of years.