Biographical Note
Finn Ronne (b. December 20, 1899; d. January 12, 1980) was an American explorer responsible for charting some of the last unvisited and unknown regions of the Antarctic continent, which he visited 9 times throughout his life. Ronne was born in Horton, Norway and emigrated to the United States in 1923, initially working as an engineer. In 1933 and 1939, he made his first trips to the Antarctic region as a member of Admiral Richard E. Byrd's party to the south polar region. Ronne served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, after which he embarked on his own expedition to Antarctica in 1947 with his wife Edith.
Today's maps of Antarctica bear several names that resulted from Ronne's expeditions to Antarctica, notably the Ronne Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea region -- named after Edith -- and the Ronne Entrance (formerly Ronne Bay) in honor of his father, Martin Richard Ronne. Ronne visited and discovered many parts of the Weddell Sea area, including much of the coastline along the Antarctic Peninsula. In all, it Ronne traveled an estimated 3,600 miles by ski and dogsled during his expeditions to Antarctica.
Ronne retired from the Navy reserve service in 1961 and went on to publish two noteworthy books, Antarctic Command and The Ronne Expedition to Antarctica, both of which added to several other important expedition reports, scientific works, and books on Antarctica by Ronne.
Edith M. Ronne (b. October 13, 1919; d. June 14, 2009) was an accomplished explorer and geographer, and in 1947 became the first American woman to set foot on Antarctica, and one of the first women to overwinter on the continent (Jennie Darlington -- another member of the same expedition -- was the other first woman). Edith Ann Maslin was born in Baltimore, Maryland and received a degree in history at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. After graduation, she spent time working at the National Geographic Society and the Department of State before marrying Finn Ronne in 1944. In 1947, she accompanied Finn on an expedition to map the uncharted regions of the Antarctic Peninsula. Among many roles on the expedition, she served as the "recorder-historian" and wrote dispatches to the New York Times and North American Newspaper Alliance, and also assisted the expedition's seismologist with taking readings of tidal and seismic observations.
For the remainder of her life, Edith was a writer and lecturer on Antarctica. She served as the President of the Society of Woman Geographers from 1978-1981, and published Antarctica's First Lady in 2004.