Mignon Talbot

Mignon Talbot
Photograph at time of the discovery of Podokesaurus holyokensis
Born	(1869-08-16)August 16, 1869 Iowa City, Iowa
Died	July 18, 1950(1950-07-18) (aged 80)
Citizenship	American
Fields	Geology, Geography
Institutions	Mount Holyoke College

Mignon Talbot (August 16, 1869 – July 18, 1950) was an American paleontologist who recovered the only fossils of the dinosaur, Podokesaurus holyokensis, located near Mount Holyoke College in 1910 and published a scientific description of the fossil in 1911. She was the first woman to become a member of the Paleontological Society. In the state of New York, she contributed to the Helderbergian crinoids and studied the faunas of Stafford limestone.

Born in Iowa City, she was a professor of Geology and Geography at Mount Holyoke College from 1904. In 1908, Talbot became professor and chairman of the Geology department. In 1929, she became the chairman of both Geology and Geography departments. During her thirty-one years at Mount Holyoke College, she amassed a large collection of invertebrate fossils and Triassic footprints and minerals. Unfortunately, the museum burned down in 1917 and almost all the specimens were destroyed, including the one extant partial skeleton of her Podokesaurus. Talbot retired in 1935 and is said to have remained passionate about her profession in the years following.

Talbot was the first female paleontologist to spontaneously discover the fossils of the dinosaur Podokesaurus holyokensis, which no one had ever discovered before. The fossils were found near Mount Holyoke college where she was a professor. The location was by the Connecticut River between two outcroppings of mountains in a bed of sandstone. During a meeting at the Paleontological Society in December 1910, the dinosaur was first labelled as a herbivore by Talbot. As her research continued she also identified the creature as theropod and alongside Yale University professor Richard Swan Lull. Colleague of Lull, Friedrich von Huene took Podokesaurus holyokensis to a new family based on genus.

Many of her research notes are considered historical artifacts. Talbot's contributions to geology were later reproduced into a collection decided upon by various scholars.