6 badass facts you might not know about Beatrix Potter

LONDON -- It's been 150 years since the birth of Beatrix Potter, the creator of four rather famous rabbits: Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter.

SEE ALSO:New Beatrix Potter story to be published 100 years after it was written

The beloved British author's legacy lives on more than 70 years after her death. In fact, every 15 seconds, someone in the world buys a Beatrix Potter book. And, her unforgettable characters, including Jemima Puddle-Duck, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, Squirrel Nutkin and, of course, Peter Rabbit endure as household names and bedtime reading favorites.

But as well as crafting some of our best-loved childhood favorites, Potter was also a pioneering businesswoman, scientist and farmer.

Here are six times the Reinaissance Woman was a complete and utter badass.

1. The collector

Potter's childhood holidays in the Scottish countryside and the Lake District inspired a lifelong love of nature. As a child, Potter and her brother filled their school room with rabbits, mice and a hedgehog, as well as butterflies and insects.

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English writer Beatrix Potter's lifelong love of nature didn't just inspire her novels....Credit: Hulton Archive/ Getty Images

2. The girl who coded

During Potter's adolescence, she kept a journal. But, this was no run-of-the-mill 'dear diary' -- it was written in a code of her own invention that only she understood. Potter used a letter-for-letter substitution code to record her thoughts on art and artists, society, and observations about everyday life. Some entries in her journal took the form of letters addressed to 'Esther,' an imaginary friend, in which she aired her frustrations about her life and vowed to "do something".

3. The scientist

Potter's love of nature also informed a keen interest in botany and mycology, the scientific study of fungi. Potter delighted in painting fungi and during the 1890s she began creating microscopic drawings of fungus spores. In 1895, she wrote a theory on fungus germination.

Potter donated her botanical illustrations to the Armitt Museum.Credit: beatrix potter / armitt museum

However, Potter's gender and amateur status resulted in her being dismissed by the director of Kew Gardens, a botanical garden in London. In 1897, after 13 years of research, Potter submitted a paper called "On the Germination of the Spores of the Agaricineae"to the Linnean Society, but she was not allowed to attend its reading because only men were invited to the club's meetings. Potter's paper and her detailed illustrations have since been rediscovered, and today mycologists refer to her drawings to identify fungi. In 1997, the Linnean Society issued a posthumous apology to Potter for the sexist mishandling of her research.

4. The shrewd businesswoman

One year after the publication of The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1902, Potter patented a Peter Rabbit doll of her own design. In the years that followed, china tea sets, wallpaper, painting books and myriad other forms of merchandise were licensed by Potter's publisher Frederick Warne & Co, which provided Potter with an additional income.

Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail and Peter are four famous rabbits.Credit: Frederick Warne & CoPeter Rabbit, the eponymous hero of Potter's first published story.Credit: Frederick Warne & Co

5. The rebel

In 1905 Potter got engaged to Norman Warne, the son of her her publisher. However, Potter's wealthy parents did not approve of the union due to Warne's "trade" background, deeming him an unsuitable match. Sadly, the engagement was short-lived as Warne died of leukaemia one month later. Potter remained unmarried until the age of 47 when she unexpectedly married William Heelis, a solicitor.

6. The farmer

Beatrix Potter wasn't just an author, illustrator, scientist and businesswoman. She also turned her hand to farming late in her life after purchasing Hill Top Farm in the Lake District. Potter went on to win awards as a breeder of Herdwick sheep. At the time of her death in 1943, Potter owned 14 farms and 4,000 acres of land.

In 1942, she was named the first female President-elect of the Herdwick Sheepbreeders' Association. But she passed away before taking office.

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