Earhart, Amelia

Earhart, Amelia

▪ American aviator
in full  Amelia Mary Earhart 
born July 24, 1897, Atchison, Kansas, U.S.
died July 2, 1937, near Howland Island, central Pacific Ocean
 American aviator, one of the world's most celebrated, who was the first woman to fly alone over the Atlantic Ocean.

      Earhart moved often with her family and completed high school in Chicago in 1916. She worked as a military nurse in Canada during World War I and as a social worker at Denison House in Boston after the war. She learned to fly (against her family's wishes) in 1920–21 and in 1922 bought her first plane, a Kinner Canary. On June 17–18, 1928, she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, although she was only a passenger in a plane flown by Wilmer Stutz and Louis Gordon. The same year, her reflections on that flight were published as 20 Hrs., 40 Min. She married the publisher George Palmer Putnam in 1931 but continued her career under her maiden name.

      Determined to justify the renown that her 1928 crossing had brought her, Earhart crossed the Atlantic alone on May 20–21, 1932. Her flight in her Lockheed Vega from Newfoundland to Ireland was completed in the record time of 14 hours 56 minutes. After that flight, she wrote The Fun of It (1932). This soon led to a series of flights across the United States and drew her into the movement that encouraged the development of commercial aviation. She also took an active part in efforts to open aviation to women and end male domination in the new field.

      In January 1935 she made a solo flight from Hawaii to California, a longer distance than that from the United States to Europe. Earhart was the first person to fly that hazardous route successfully; all previous attempts had ended in disaster. She set out in 1937 to fly around the world, with Fred Noonan as her navigator, in a twin-engine Lockheed Electra. After completing more than two-thirds of the distance, her plane vanished in the central Pacific near the International Date Line. Although her mysterious disappearance has since raised many questions and much speculation about the events surrounding it, the facts remain largely unknown.

Additional Reading
Amelia Earhart, Last Flight, arranged by George Palmer Putnam (1937, reissued 1988), contains journal entries and messages sent home, selected and arranged by her husband. Biographies include George Palmer Putnam, Soaring Wings (1939, reissued 1972); Doris L. Rich, Amelia Earhart (1989); Mary S. Lovell, The Sound of Wings (1989); Susan Butler, East to the Dawn (1997); and Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, Amelia (1997). Randall Brink, Lost Star: The Search for Amelia Earhart (1994), examines her disappearance.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Earhart,Amelia — Ear·hart (ârʹhärt ), Amelia. 1897? 1937. American aviator who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (1932) and from Hawaii to California (1935). While attempting to fly around the world, she crashed in the Pacific Ocean (1937) …   Universalium

  • Earhart, Amelia (Mary) — born July 24, 1897, Atchinson, Kan. U.S. disappeared July 2, 1937, near Howland Island, Pacific Ocean U.S. aviator, the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean. Earhart worked as a military nurse in Canada during World War I and later… …   Universalium

  • Earhart, Amelia (Mary) — (24 jul. 1897, Atchinson, Kan., EE.UU.–desaparecida el 2 jul. 1937, cerca de la isla Howland, en el océano Pacífico). Aviadora estadounidense, fue la primera mujer que voló sola a través del Atlántico. Earhart trabajó como enfermera militar en… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Earhart, Amelia —  (1897–1937) Female aviator who disappeared while trying to circumnavigate the globe …   Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors

  • Earhart, Amelia —    for the aviator who famously disappeared while trying to circumnavigate the globe in 1937 …   Dictionary of troublesome word

  • Amelia Earhart — Earhart redirects here. For the asteroid, see 3895 Earhart. Amelia Earhart Amelia Earhart …   Wikipedia

  • Amelia Earhart — Nom de naissance Amelia Mary Earhart Surnom Meeley Millie Lady Lindy Naissance 24 juillet 1897 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Amelia Earhart — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Amelia Earhart Retrato de Amelia Earhart …   Wikipedia Español

  • Amelia Mary Earhart — Dieser Artikel oder Abschnitt ist nicht hinreichend mit Belegen (Literatur, Webseiten oder Einzelnachweisen) versehen. Die fraglichen Angaben werden daher möglicherweise demnächst gelöscht. Hilf Wikipedia, indem du die Angaben recherchierst und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Amelia Earhart — noun first woman aviator to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic (1928); while attempting to fly around the world she disappeared over the Pacific (1898 1937) • Syn: ↑Earhart • Instance Hypernyms: ↑aviator, ↑aeronaut, ↑airman, ↑flier, ↑flyer * *… …   Useful english dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”