What is amelia earhart famous for

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Biography

When 10-year-old Amelia Mary Earhart saw her first plane at a state fair, she was not impressed. “It was a thing of rusty wire and wood and looked not at all interesting,” she dismissively said. It wasn’t until she attended a stunt-flying exhibition, almost a decade later, that she became seriously interested in aviation. A pilot spotted Earhart and her friend, who were watching from an isolated clearing, and dove at them. “I am sure he said to himself, ‘Watch me make them scamper,’” she exclaimed. Earhart, who felt a mixture of fear and pleasure, stood her ground. As the plane swooped by, something inside her awakened. “I did not understand it at the time,” she admitted, “but I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by.” On December 28, 1920, pilot Frank Hawks gave her a ride that would forever change her life. “By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly.”

Although Earhart’s convictions were strong, challenging, prejudicial, and financial obstacles awaited her, but the former tomboy was no s

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Amelia Earhart

By Debra Michals, PhD | 2015

She never reached her fortieth birthday, but in her brief life, Amelia Earhart became a record-breaking female aviator whose international fame improved public acceptance of aviation and paved the way for other women in commercial flight.

Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas to Amy Otis Earhart and Edwin Stanton Earhart, followed in 1899 by her sister Muriel. The family moved from Kansas to Iowa to Minnesota to Illinois, where Earhart graduated from high school. During World War I, she left college to work at a Canadian military hospital, where she met aviators and became intrigued with flying.

After the war, Earhart completed a semester at Columbia University, then the University of Southern California. With her first plane ride in 1920, she realized her true passion and began flying lessons with female aviator Neta Snook. On her twenty-fifth birthday, Earhart purchased a Kinner Airster biplane. She flew it, in 1922, when she set the women’s altitude record of 14,000 feet. With faltering fami

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Amelia Earhart: Aviator. Legend. Boilermaker.

One of the most famous aviators of all time, Amelia Earhart worked at Purdue from 1935 until her disappearance in 1937

In 1935, Amelia Earhart was at the height of her celebrity. She had a record-setting solo flight across the Atlantic. She was a published author, a designer of her own fashion line, a charter member of the Ninety-Nines and an outspoken advocate for women.

What, then, inspired one of the most famous people in the world to live in West Lafayette and work for Purdue University?

An irresistible opportunity and a charismatic university president.

Right person, right place, right time

Purdue President Edward Elliott led the university with an eye always looking toward the next giant leap. During his 23-year tenure (1922-45), enrollment more than doubled, 28 major buildings — including an airport— were constructed and the university’s net worth nearly tripled.

Elliott hired Dorothy Stratton in 1933 as the first full-time dean of women students. Construction was complete on Purdue’s f