Amelia Mary Earhart, the world known aviation pioneer, was also a writer. She was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean by herself. Known for breaking one record after the other and writing books about her flying that became best-sellers, she was also the co-founder of the Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.
She was born in Atchison, Kansas. Earhart developed a passion for adventure at a young age. She was the first woman to travel over the Atlantic with Wilmer Stultz as her pilot in 1928, making her well-known, too. In 1932 it was her turn to fly a Lockheed Vega 5B over the Atlantic, on her own, without a stop, again gaining fame, as the first woman to achieve such a feat. In 1935 she became part of the teaching faculty at Purdue University, serving as an advisor to aeronautical engineering and a career counselor for female students. She was active in politics too, being a member of the National Woman’s Party and an avid advocate of the Equal Rights Amendment.
In 1937 she started her journey around the world in a plane of course, with Fred Noonan as her navigator. Unfortunately, they were both lost somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, near Howland Island. She was officially pronounced dead after a year and a half. Investigations and significant public interest in their disappearance still continue over 80 years later.