Welcome to the History Tricks where any resemblance to a boring old history lesson is purely coincidental.

And here's your 30-second summary.

12-year-old Mary Annning pulled a dinosaur out of a cliff and set off a firestorm of philosophy and science that never seemed to include her, somehow.

From the Loch Ness Monster to Jurassic Park, the world would never be the same.

The End.

Let's talk about Mary Annning.

But first let's drop her into history.

In 1799, the first US patent for a seating machine was granted.

The first US law regulating insurance companies was passed and the first US printed ballots were authorized.

Napoleon Bonaparte was gobbling up territory, seating himself as the dictator of France,

and when his troops were in Egypt, one of his army captains discovered the Rosetta Stone.

Although it wasn't compulsory for another 38 years, France became the first country to use the metric system.

By 2019, the entire world except three countries used this as their official weights and measures.

The first recorded meteor shower was observed off the Florida Keys.

The Royal Institute of Great Britain dedicated to scientific research and education opened.

George Washington and Patrick Henry both died.

And in 1799, Mary Annning, future fossil collector and paleontologist was born.

Mary Annning was born on May 21st, 1799 in Lyme, Regis, a seaside town in Dorset, England.

She was the fifth of the 10 children of Richard Annning and Molly Moore Annning, though she was only the youngest of two children to survive to the age of five.

Let that sit in the minute.

In fact, our Mary Annning was named after her older sister, Mary Annning, who died at four when her clothing caught on fire.

The heartbreak of daily life sometimes I just can't take it on board.

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