Maria Léa was born on 2 August 1931, in
Rio de Janeiro, but grew up and spent a good part of her adult life in
Minas Gerais. She completed her degree in
Natural History at the
Federal University of Minas Gerais in 1958, and her
PhD in
Biological Sciences (
Botanics) at the
University of São Paulo in 1972. Her research focused on the study of thousands of years old crystallised
pollen from plants,
spores and microscopic
algae found in sediments from the
quaternary period in the area of
Planalto in the ecoregion of the
Cerrado. In 1974, she joined the
Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC), where she worked as a researcher until 1987. In 1979, she moved to the
United States, where she realised her post-doctoral studies in
Palynology,
Pollen Morphology and
Botanics at the
Smithsonian Institution. Then, at the
University of Minnesota, she studied
Environmental Geology,
Stratigraphic Palaeontology and Geographic Climatology. She died on 13 July 2013, aged 81, in
Brasília == Contributions and legacy ==