- Amelia Earhart (1898-1937), aviator, pacifist, teacher, and adventurer. Earhart's lifetime coincided with the pioneer years of aviation: its exciting newness exactly suited her. As a nurse's aide in Canada during World War I, she became interested in aviation. Later in California she worked for the company to pay for flying lessons (from pioneer pilot Neta Snook) and for a plane. Earhart was the first woman to fly the Atlantic (1928), but as log keeper; four years later however, she became the first woman pilot to solo that trip. She twice broke the transcontinental speed record. Earhart was the first to fly nonstop from Mexico City to Newark, N.J., and to solo from Honolulu to the mainland U.S. (1935). On a round-the-world research flight in 1937 she disappeared, presumably having gone down in the Pacific. Earhart wrote and lectured on her experiences as an aviator, aiming to encourage economic opportunities and independence for women.
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