Description: Paleontologist Dr. Johanna "Tilly" Edinger was the founder of the field of paleoneurology, the study of brain evolution, and discovered that mammalian brains left imprints on fossil skulls, allowing paleoneurologists to discern their anatomy. #Groundbreaker
Description: Senior Scientist Vicki Funk, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Department of Botany, directs the Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield Program and specializes in the evolution and biogeography of plants of the South American highlands. #Groundbreaker
Description: Dr. Anna J. Phillips, Research Zoologist, National Museum of Natural History, focuses on the systematics, evolution, and host associations of two parasitic worms: leeches and tapeworms. She has conducted fieldwork on 6 of the 7 continents. #Groundbreaker
Description: National Museum of Natural History paleontologist, Dr. Anna K. Behrensmeyer, reconstructs and compares land ecosystems through time to explore how ecology has helped to shape land vertebrate evolution and community structure throughout the Phanerozoic. #Groundbreaker
Description: The 19th century was a transformative time for the natural sciences. New discoveries didn't just happen in an armchair. Scientists adventured into unfamiliar territory by land and sea on expeditions, and their new findings fed new theories. Groups like the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences formalized America's place
Description: Staff Scientist Emirata, Dr. Mary Jane West-Eberhard, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, studies why some organisms live in societies & is noted for arguing that phenotypic & developmental plasticity play a key role in sharing animal evolution. #Groundbreaker
Description: Biological anthropologist Dr. Habiba Chirchir, Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, researches the evolution of human and non-human primate bone density patterns to ascertain whether there are unique patterns of trabecular bone density among closely related species. #Groundbreaker
Description: The Smithsonian Tropical Research Center's Dr. Rachel Collin, Evolutionary Biologist and Director of their Bocas Del Toro Research Station, studies the evolution of marine gastropods (snails) and oversees multiple disciplines of marine biology at the Collin Lab in Bocas del Toro. #Groundbreaker
Description: Astrophysicist Dr. Andrea K. Dupree, and Kepler teammate, Ron Gilliland, obtained the first image of the surface of a star. She recently led a team that discovered fast hot winds from very young stars, which could profoundly affect their evolution and the environment of surrounding planets. #Groundbreaker