Mignon Talbot and the Discovery of Podokesaurus
Mignon Talbot (1869–1950)
Mignon Talbot was an educator and paleontologist. She was one of the first women to earn a Ph.D. in geology from Yale University. She was also the first woman to become a member of the Paleontological Society.
Mignon went to college at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Her mentor at Ohio State, geologist Edward Orton, encouraged her to stay in paleontology. After graduating in 1892, Mignon taught physical geography in Columbus schools. She began her Ph.D. in geology at Yale University in 1903 and completed her degree in just one year.
Mignon spent the rest of her career as a geology and geography professor at Mount Holyoke, a women’s college in Massachusetts. Rather than publishing papers, Mignon devoted her time to teaching students and building the Geology Department’s collection. She took students on trips to view rock formations and look for fossils, but believed women should work in laboratories, museums, and offices. Like many scientists of her time, Mignon felt fieldwork was only appropriate for men.
Discovery of Podokesaurus
“I have found a real live fossil!” –Mignon Talbot
Mignon was walking with her sister near Mount Holyoke in 1910 when she made an incredible discovery. By chance, Mignon spotted a dinosaur skeleton embedded in a sandstone boulder. She was the first woman to find a nearly complete dinosaur skeleton, which she described as Podokesaurus holyokensis in 1911. The only specimen was destroyed in a fire in 1916, and no other specimens of the dinosaur have ever been found. In 2021, residents of Massachusetts selected Podokesaurus holyokensis to be the state dinosaur.
How do we know what Podokesaurus and other ancient animals looked like when they were alive?
The story of Mignon Talbot’s discovery of Podokesaurus is told in PRI’s 2017 children’s book Daring to Dig: Adventures of Women in American Paleontology by Beth Stricker and illustrated by Alana McGillis.
Image from Daring to Dig: Adventures of Women in American Paleontology about Mignon Talbot and the discovery of Podokesaurus.
In the video below, Daring to Dig’s Alana McGillis explains how paleoartists reconstruct the appearances of dinosaurs like Podokesaurus. Alana also shows the steps for drawing your own Podokesaurus! (download PDF).
Learn more about Mignon Talbot
Selected works by Mignon Talbot
Talbot, M. 1911. Podokesaurus holyokensis, a new dinosaur from the Triassic of the Connecticut Valley. American Journal of Science S4-31: 469–479. https://doi.org/10.2475/ajs.s4-31.186.469
Talbot, M. 1922. The Department of Geology. Mt. Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly 6: 128–132.
Biographical references & further reading
Berta, A., and S. Turner. 2020. Rebels, scholars, explorers: Women in vertebrate paleontology. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Contreras, C. 2021. Mass. makes its pick for state dinosaur: Podokesaurus holyokensis; Lewis files legislation. Milford Daily News, 4 February 2021. https://www.milforddailynews.com/story/news/2021/02/04/mass-makes-its-pick-state-dinosaur-podokesaurus-holyokensis/4396749001/
Haff, J.C., 1952, Memorial to Mignon Talbot. Geological Society of America Annual Report for 1951, p. 157–158.
Turner, S., C.V. Burek, and R.T. Moody. 2010. Forgotten women in an extinct saurian (man’s) world. In R.T.J. Moody, E. Buffetaut, D. Naish, and D.M. Martill, eds. Dinosaurs and other extinct saurians: A historical perspective. Geological Society, London, Special Publications 343: 111–153. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP343.7