Presented by Terry Tickhill, Member of First Female Team to Antarctica
While it is commonplace for women to conduct fieldwork in Antarctica today, this was not always the case. With funding from the National Science Foundation and facing skepticism from the U.S. Navy, a team from OSU’s Institute of Polar Studies (now called the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center) arrived in Antarctica in 1969. The expedition received much attention for breaking the gender barrier, but undertook serious research in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Terry Tickhill, one of the members of the team, pursued studies in ecology following the expedition and recently retired from a career in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Park Service.
For additional information on fall programs associated with the Mysteries in Ice exhibition, please visit library.osu.edu/find/collections/byrd-polar-archives/our-25th-anniversary/.
