Share a story of a time when you suddenly realized that things you thought were irreconcilably different – thoughts, ideas, people, places – were connected. How did that change the way you view the world?

Marie Hammer 1907 – 2002

As a zoologisk, Hammer traveled the globe extensively. She collected microfauna from the soil and leaf litter and compared species she found in various habitats.

In the Argentinan highlands, she discovered some oribatid mites identical to those see had collected on scandinavian soil. At the time, the theory of continental drifting was new and still heavily ridiculed. But the only explanation for Hammer’s find was that the oribatid mites had lived side by side 200 million years ago when the continents were still connected – and survived the changes in climate and habitat when they drifted apart.

In connecting the tiniest of dots Hammer played a major in connecting continents.

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