Mary Elizabeth Barber

thumb|Mary Elizabeth Barber Mary Elizabeth Barber (5 January 1818 – 4 September 1899) was a pioneering British-born amateur scientist of the nineteenth century. Without formal education, she made a name for herself in botany, ornithology and entomology. She was also an accomplished poet and painter, and illustrated her scientific contributions that were published by learned societies such as the Royal Entomological Society in London, the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, and the Linnean Society of London. Quotes She replied 'to those who argued that women did not want independence' with a rhetorical question that '"If the bird does like its cage and does like its sugar and will not leave it, why keep the door so very carefully shut?"'6 http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-01902015000100004. SCIELO. November 2015 External links Category:Artists from England Category:1818 births Category:1899 deaths Category:Women scientists from England Category:Women scientists from South Africa