Anna Atkins

Anna Atkins was a pioneering English botanist and photographer. Born in 1799, she is celebrated for producing what is considered the first book ever illustrated with photographs. Instead of tedious hand-drawn botanical illustrations, Atkins employed the then-novel cyanotype process to create stunning, ethereal blue-and-white images of algae, making her an early adopter of photography for scientific documentation. Before Instagram, there was Anna Atkins, showing off her filtered plants.

Her father, John George Children, was a distinguished chemist, mineralogist, and zoologist, which likely provided Anna with an environment conducive to scientific curiosity and exploration. He even had a genus of python named after him, though we're fairly certain Anna herself did not wrestle any serpents.

Atkins's work