Minerva Scientifica Birthday Celebration

Name: Minerva Scientifica Birthday Celebration
Start: 2021-02-21
End: 2021-02-21

21st February 2021Elizabeth Gray (1831-1924)
Fossil Collector
BORN 21st February 1831, Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland

electric voice theatre · TrowelBlazers – Time & Tide & Tectonics by Frances M Lynch

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TrowelBlazers – Time & Tide & Tectonics by Frances M Lynch celebrates some of Elizabeth Gray’s fellow Trowelblazers, it explores their work, the difficulties they encountered and their legacy.

Elizabeth Gray was described by later palaeontologists as one of the foremost fossil collectors of all time. The Gray Collection – mainly the work of herself and her 2 daughters, numbered 40,000 specimens collected in the area around Girvan on Scotland’s west coast over 80 years. Here are some examples of the kind of fossils she found: – (image credits are on her page here)

Trilobite
A trilobite fossil from the Girvan area

Urasterella fossil etched into a stone - little wobbly star shapes — Urasterella
Urasterella sp. & Saltaster sp. (Multi Starfish)

Cothurnocystis elizae a red stone shape like a boot in grey rocks — Cothurnocystis elizae
Cothurnocystis elizae – Elizabeth and her daughters nicknamed this fossil the ‘Boot’

Brachiopods - on a lumpy looking fragment of stone — Brachiopods
Brachiopods were particularly abundant during the Palaeozoic Era 248 to 545 million years ago

Conulariid fossil emerging from rust coloured rock — Conulariid
Conulariid - Elizabeth Gray was the first to find a specimen of this type near Girvan

A black & white sketch of Fossil Coral — Fossil Coral
Nicholson, H. A. and Etheridge, R. A monograph of the Silurian fossils of the Girvan District in Ayrshire with special reference to those contained in the “Gray collection”

Graptolites - a fossil etched into rock — Graptolites
Fossil graptolites – colonies of animals which lived about 520 to 350 million years ago

Find out more about Elizabeth Gray on the Minerva Scientifica Website
You can see photographs of her at work here

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Created by electric voice theatre, Minerva Scientifica is a project that brings together professional performers with community musicians and school children. Together, we raise awareness of the rich heritage and deep connections between music and science, and inspire the next generation of future scientists.

Date

Minerva Scientifica Birthday Celebration

Trilobite

Urasterella

Cothurnocystis elizae

Brachiopods

Conulariid

Fossil Coral

Graptolites

Minerva Scientifica – Connections 2020