Jackie Ronne
Edith "Jackie" Ronne (born October 13, 1919 – June 14, 2009) was an American explorer of Antarctica and the first woman in the world to be a working member of an Antarctic expedition. She is also the namesake of the Ronne Ice Shelf.
Biography
She was born October 14, 1919, in Baltimore, Maryland and received a degree in history from George Washington University. She married Finn 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. She and Jennie Darlington, the wife of the expedition's chief pilot, became the first women to overwinter in Antarctica. They spent 15 months together with 21 other members of the expedition in a small station they had set up on Stonington Island in Marguerite Bay.
As the expedition's recorder & 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.
Edith Ronne Land
Edith Ronne Land is the portion of Antarctica bounded by Palmer Land and Ellsworth Land to the west, Queen Elizabeth Land to the south, and Coats Land to the east. Its geographical features include Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf and Berkner Island, the second largest island of Antarctica, as well as several other islands rising from the ice shelf.
Edith Ronne Land was named by Chile for Edith Ronne, wife of Commander Finn Ronne, USNR, leader of the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (RARE) in 1947–48.
Past name usage
Originally the name was given in 1947 by Commander Finn Ronne to the land presumed to lie south of the large ice shelf he discovered at the head of Weddell Sea (which land corresponds to most of the present Queen Elizabeth Land). However, it was determined in 1957–58 that the ice shelf was larger than previously charted, extending southwards to preempt most of "Edith Ronne Land," and the US Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names officially approved in 1968 the name "Ronne Ice Shelf" for that large ice shelf instead (excluding Filchner Ice Shelf that lies between Berkner Island and Coats Land).
