NAME: Amelia Earhart DATE OF BIRTH: July 24, 1897 PLACE OF BIRTH: Atchison, Kansas DATE OF DEATH: c. 1937 PLACE OF DEATH: unknown FAMILY BACKGROUND: Amelia's father was a railroad attorney in Rydal, Pennsylvania. She married publisher George Palmer Putnam in1931.

Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann

EDUCATION: As a girl, Amelia Earhart attended Oontz School in Rydal, Pennsylvania; she earned a degree from Columbia University. Amelia learned to fly in California and made it her life's hobby.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Amelia was a true pioneer for women and aviation. After college, Amelia worked in Boston as a settlement worker. Wilmer Stultz was the aviator which flew Friendship, a trimotor plane. He asked Amelia to join him on the flight from Newfoundland to Wales; by being a passenger on this flight, she became the first woman ever on a transatlantic flight. Upon its landing in Wales at Burry Port on June 18, 1928, Amelia had decided to make flying her career.

She is noted for her solo flights: she make one from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland to Ireland in 1932 and one from Hawaii to America, crowning her the first aviator to fly this route. Amelia chronicled her flights in three books.

Detail from Corbis-Bettman image

Her legend continues when she entered a flight with Frederick J. Noonan from Miami, Florida to co-navigate the first round-the-world flight. The two flew to the journey's starting point, New Guinea, but after they took flight on July 1, 1937, they never arrived at their destination, Howland Island in the Pacific. She was never to be seen again. Some theorize, based on the accounts of Army veterans, that they were captured, imprisoned and possibly killed by the Japanese on the island of Saipan.

QUOTE: Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things.   - Amelia Earhart

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Briand, Paul L. Daughter of the Sky; the Story of Amelia Earhart. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1960.

Earhart, Amelia. Last Flight by Amelia Earhart, arranged by George Palmer Putman. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1937.

King, Thomas F. Amelia Earhart's Shoes: is the Mystery Solved? Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press, 2001.

Rosenthal, Marilyn S and Daniel Freeman. Amelia Earhart: a Photo-Illustrated Biography. Mankato: Bridgestone Books, 1999.

WEB SITES:

Amelia Earhart - Biography

Amelia Earhart and Atchison, Kansas

Spectrum Biography - Amelia Earhart