Maria Sibylla Merian was a 17th century botanical illustrator, buisness woman and forger of her own path. In 1699 Maria shipped off to the dutch colony of Surinam. Whilst there she basically proved that insects don't just errupt from ground, which was the common theory but most go through a process of metamorphosis.

Her first scientific book on metamorphosis was called Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung und sonderbare Blumennahrung ('The wondrous transformation of caterpillars and their remarkable diet of flowers').