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The Genius of Maria Merian: free talk
August 30, 2018 @ 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
In the mid-1600s, most people believed frogs, mice, and insects generated spontaneously from mud, dung or dead animals, and were evidence of the devil’s presence. Young Maria Sibylla Merian collected insects and recorded metamorphosis by painting insects in secret. Her very passions put her at risk of being charged, sentenced, and executed for being a witch. She radically broke the mores of her day and changed science in her lifetime. A hundred years later, her paintings and methods influenced other naturalists including the young ornithologist Audubon.
Speaker Jari Thymian is a full-time traveling RVer. Along with her husband Greg, she volunteers for extended periods in state and national parks, historic sites, wildlife refuges and hatcheries as interpretive tour guide and jack-of-all trades. They’re in their sixth year of adventure and have volunteered at nine sites in six states. Jari caught and preserved her first insects starting in Minnesota 4-H in the 1960s.
