Claim: Amelia Earhart was a pioneer of something.

Amelia Mary Earhart -LRB- -LSB- ˈɛərhɑrt -RSB- July 24 , 1897 -- disappeared July 2 , 1937 -RRB- was an American aviation pioneer and author . Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean . She received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment . She set many other records , wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines , an organization for female pilots . In 1935 , Earhart became a visiting faculty member at Purdue University as an advisor to aeronautical engineering and a career counselor to women students . She was also a member of the National Woman 's Party and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment .   During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10 Electra , Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island . Fascination with her life , career and disappearance continues to this day .