Jackie Ronne | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ronne in 1947 | |
| Born | Edith Ann Maslin (1919-10-13)October 13, 1919 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | June 14, 2009(2009-06-14) (aged 89) Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. |
| Education | George Washington University |
| Known for | Antarctic expedition and Ronne ice shelf |
| Spouse | (his death) |
Edith Jackie Ronne (October 13, 1919 – June 14, 2009) was an Americanexplorer ofAntarctica and the first woman in the world to be a working member of an Antarctic expedition (1947–48).[1] TheRonne Ice Shelf was named by her husband after her.[2]
Born Edith Ann Maslin on October 13, 1919, inBaltimore, Maryland,[3] Ronne spent her first two years in college at theCollege of Wooster inWooster, Ohio,[3] and received a degree in history fromGeorge Washington University, where she was a member ofPhi Mu sorority.[4][1] After college she worked in the U.S. State Department where she spent five years serving in several different positions from file clerk to International Information Specialist in the Near and Far Eastern Division of Cultural Affairs.[3] She marriedFinn Ronne on March 18, 1941, and on the expedition of 1946–1948 that her husband commanded, she became the first American woman to set foot on the Antarctic continent.[5] She andJennie Darlington, the wife of the expedition's chief pilot, became the first women to overwinter inAntarctica.[1] They spent 15 months together with 21 other members of the expedition in a small station they had set up
As the expedition's recorder and historian, Ronne wrote the news releases for the North American Newspaper Alliance. She also kept a daily history of the expedition's accomplishments, which formed the basis for her husband's book,Antarctic Conquest, published by Putnam in 1949, as well as making routine tidal and seismographic observations.[6]
Edith Ronne returned fifteen times to Antarctica, including a Navy-sponsored flight to theSouth Pole in 1971 to commemorate the 60th anniversary ofRoald Amundsen first reaching the South Pole, and a 1995 trip back to her former base at Stonington Island as guest lecturer on the expeditioncruise shipExplorer. She was a fellow ofThe Explorers Club and served as president of theSociety of Woman Geographers from 1978 to 1981.[citation needed]
She died on June 14, 2009, aged 89, fromAlzheimer's disease.[2][7]
Edith Ronne Land was named after her by her husband (CommanderFinn Ronne), who mapped the last unknown coastline on earth. When the territory was determined to be mostly ice shelf, the name was changed to Edith Ronne Ice Shelf. At her request, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names removed her first name, so that theRonne Ice Shelf would correspond to the continent's other large ice shelf, theRoss Ice Shelf and to commemorate all three Ronne explorers including her father-in-law,Martin Rønne, a member ofAmundsen's South Pole expedition.
Ronne was the recipient of a special Achievement Award from Columbian College of George Washington University and dedicated a Polar Section to the National Naval Museum.[3]
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