THE NATURALIST Maria Sibylla Merian

17th century / Europe / First woman to... / Germany / Science / South America / Suriname / Travel
Maria Sibylla Merian in 1679
image in the public domain

Germany was still burning witches when Maria Sibylla Merian daringly filled her 17th-century home with spiders, moths, and all kinds of toxic plants. Bold choices saved her from accusations of witchcraft–and from a mundane life. Merian’s fascination with metamorphosis led her all the way to the rainforests of South America, where she recorded countless new species, 130 years before Darwin!

Katie interviews our guest Kim Todd, author of Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis.

To order your own prints of Maria Sibylla Merian’s illustrations, use this link and get $25 off your order (and help support the pod too).

Kim Todd is the author of four books of literary nonfiction, including Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis, Tinkering with Eden: a Natural History of Exotic Species in America, Sparrow, and her newest work, Sensational: The Hidden History of America’s “Girl Stunt Reporters,” which dives into the lives of undercover journalists who exposed societal ills in the 1880s and 1890s. Todd was raised in California, educated in Montana, and after moving from coast to coast and landing many places in between, now lives in Minneapolis. She is on the faculty at the MFA program at the University of Minnesota.

Music featured in this episode included:

Your purchases help support the podcast!