Amelia Earhart, who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. This is the place where her grandparents used to live. Her mother Amy Earhart had suffered a miscarriage before and moved in with her parents before Amelia was born. During this period Edwin Earhart, her father remained with his law practice in Kansas City.
Alfred Otis, Amelia's grandfather, was one of the distinguished citizens of Atchison and a wealthy man. He was the one responsible for sending Amelia and her sister Muriel to private schools and providing them with comforts of life. Even in her childhood, Amelia was an adventurous kid and spent hours playing with Pidge, climbing trees and hunting rats with a rifle.
Amelia was about 10 years old when she spotted the first airplane Iowa State Fair but at that time she was more fascinated by the peach basket paper hat that she bought at the fair than the airplane.
She had enrolled herself as a pre-med student at Columbia University in 1919 and despite being good in studies Amelia dropped out of college in 1920 to join her mother and father in California.
It was here that Amelia attended an 'aerial meet' along with her father and the very next day she boarded the open-cockpit biplane for a 10 minute flight over Los Angeles. Describing the experience in her own words, Amelia had stated, "As soon as we left the ground I knew I myself had to fly!" and thus began her love interest with flying.
Amelia has many aviation records to her credit including becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone. She disappeared in 1937 while attempting to circumnavigational flight of the globe.
Her grandparent's home has now been converted into a museum known as 'Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum and the organisation Ninety-Nines Inc. manages the same. It is her life and 115th birthday that is being celebrated by Google doodle today.
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