There are many scientific breakthroughs made by women in the Antarctic. Here are four landmarks in Antarctica and the female pioneers they're named after.
Jones Terrace
The ice-free terrace in eastern Antarctica's Victoria Land bears Jones' name. In 1969, geochemist Lois M. Jones led the first all-female research team from the U. S. to work in Antarctica. Jones and her team studied chemical weathering in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, an ice-free area of Antarctica. Through chemical analyses of rocks they had collected, Jones and her team discovered many geochemical characteristics of the valley's ice-covered lakes.
Mount Fiennes
8,202-foot-high Mount Fiennes, located on Antarctica's largest island — Alexander Island — is named after Ginny Fiennes. She established and maintained 80-foot-tall radio towers in the Antarctic with her colleagues. In 1985, Fiennes became the first female invited to join the Antarctic Club, a British supper club open to individuals who have spent extended time in the Antarctic region.
Francis Peak
The 3,727-foot-tall peak on Antarctica's Adelaide Island is named after Dame Jane Francis, who is the first female director of the British Antarctic Survey, the national polar research institute of the UK. Her collection of fossils on Seymour Island helped conclude in a 2021 paper that Antarctica's abundant plant fossils indicate the continent once had a much warmer climate than it currently does.
Peden Cliffs
Peden Cliffs near Antarctica's Marie Byrd Land are proof of the labor of Irene Peden. She was the first American female scientist to both live and work in the Antarctic, where she used radio waves to study ice sheets. Peden and her team determined how very low frequency radio wave spread over long polar distances by measuring pathways in the ice. They also used varying radio wave frequencies to measure the thickness of Antarctica's ice sheets.
