Monika Puskeppeleit | |
|---|---|
 Puskeppeleit at Mikkelsen Bay | |
| Nationality | German |
| Alma mater | Heidelberg University Goethe University Frankfurt |
| Organization | IMHA |
Monika Petra Puskeppeleit (born 1955) is a German physician, public health manager and scientific researcher with special interest in medicine of remote areas, especially polar regions. She is the first German medical doctor and station leader of the first all-woman team to overwinter in Antarctica.
Puskeppeleit was born April 4, 1955, her father was a construction engineer, her mother a ballet dancer. Since her early childhood Puskeppeleit was fascinated by the Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen. She spent her school days in Frankfurt am Main and Mannheim, where she graduated in 1974 from the humanistically oriented Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Gymnasium, with a focus on natural sciences. In the early eighties Puskeppeleit decided to overwinter as female expedition doctor in the Antarctic and gave first scientific lectures on polar medicine in 1986. She studied medicine at the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe University of Frankfurt, as well as at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität medical university of Heidelberg, Germany from 1982 to 1984. This was followed by a diploma of tropical medicine from the Berhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (Hamburg, Germany) in 2003. In 2005, she began a Masters program and obtained a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Public Health Management from the Nordic School of Public Health (Gothenborg, Sweden) in 2008. [1]
The title of her MSc dissertation was ‘Improving telemedicine onboard Norwegian ships and drilling platforms – A study of intersectoral co-operation in Maritime Medicine’. [2] She is also certified in travel and emergency medicine, with OLF certification as seamen's, ship's, and offshore physician. [3] She is fluent in German, her mother tongue, while also being proficient in English, French, Norwegian, Swedish and Basic Italian.
Since 1984 she is a qualified medical doctor with a doctorate in surgery from the Medical School, Heidelberg University (Ph.D.1991). Puskeppeleit is a specialist in general practice and occupational health medicine, certified in emergency medicine, medical quality management, travel and tropical medicine, as well as seamen's, ship's, offshore and expedition physician, with many years of international hands-on medical experience working in both Polar Regions, as well as in Australia, Central Asia, Europe, India and in West - and South Africa. [3] [4] Her research interests focus on maritime and offshore telemedicine, cruise ship medicine, maritime education issues, inter- sectorial healthcare management, lifestyle epidemiology, occupational health, medical quality management, and the education of international ship's doctors. Puskeppeleit's Masters dissertation has contributed to today's understanding and standardization of maritime medicine and has contributed to the Textbook of Maritime Medicine, a comprehensive volume to maritime medicine free of charge from the Norwegian Centre for Maritime Medicine. [5] [6] [7] [8]
Puskeppeleit has volunteered as a coordinator and medical physician at HUMEDICA, an international NGO providing healthcare across the globe, [9] worked as an offshore physician in 2012 at Statoil in Bergen (Norway). Puskeppeleit has contributed towards short-courses on maritime medicine with the goal of addressing the shortage of maritime physicians. [10] The Compact Course Maritime Medicine of the German Schiffarztbörse [11] [Medical Ship Management [12] ] and Expeditionsarztbörse [13] provides essential information on maritime medicine within a 40-hour format. [14] She has lectured and published on polar and maritime medicine since 1986, also contributing to a number of books and textbooks. [14] Puskeppeleit is a current member of the German Society of Polar Research (DGP), German Institute for Aero and Space Medicine (DLR), International Maritime Health Association (IMHA), German Society for Tropical Medicine and International Health DTG . [4]
She approached the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in 1984, wanting to join a German overwintering team to the Antarctic. [4] This goal was achieved in 1989. Puskeppeleit was the first German female doctor to overwinter at the Georg-von-Neumayer Station at Atka Bay (Ekstrøm Shelfeis), Antarctica, during 1989–1991. During this time she was also a member and team leader of the world first female-only team to overwinter in Antarctica. [4] [5] [15] As the first German female station leader, overwintering physician and ship's doctor onboard SA Agulhas S. A. Agulhas Puskeppeleit substantially contributed to changing the perception of women during the time when Antarctica was a male dominated research area. In 2017 she founded the DocShip International e.V. which should act as an interactive international platform for ship's doctor. During her overwintering, Puskeppeleit initiated the first polar- and biomedical research at the German Antarctic overwinter station. She started the “UV–B radiation related biological climate change research project” in cooperation with the German Institute for Aero and Space Medicine (DLR). Other pilot-projects like “testing of wind energy plants as an alternative energy source in the Antarctic” or the “Establishment of an alternative waste disposal system at the German Antarctic station” had been also carried out successfully by the female overwintering team. [4] In 1990 as a contemporary witness, Puskeppeleit made in her function as station leader together with the all-female team a unique sociopolitical contribution to the East-West German reunification on the ice. Through regular contact by radio to the former DDR station Georg Forster (70° 46′ S, 11 50 E) for the first time it was possible to information exchange concerning polar research issues. But also in social interaction the all - female team was able to support their East - German overwintering colleagues by German “bridge building” on the ice.
In addition to Puskeppeleit's south polar challenges, she gained experiences as expedition doctor and researcher also in the Arctic. In 1992, she led a medical aid for Igarka in Siberia in cooperation with the German polar explorer Arved Fuchs and HELP e.V. Later on, she went to other Arctic regions like Kotzebue, Alaska (1994), to Spitsbergen (1996, 2017 and 2022) in collaboration with SINTEF, and Qaanaaq, Greenland (2000) where she travelled together with the last polar Inuit in North West Greenland. In 1997 Puskeppeleit organized the polar medicine part of the "Arktis - Antarktis Exhibition" of the German Art and Exhibition Hall, Bonn, Germany. In addition she gave medical and management advice to various Antarctic expeditions (e. g. the Norwegian expeditions "NAE 2000/2001" with Rolf Bae and Erik Soenneland, Troll Base and "The longest March - 2005/06" Rune Gjeldnes. In 2005 she was the responsible expedition physician for the German ZDF / TV Expedition " Die Karawane" in Mongolia. In 2003 / 2004, Puskeppeleit returned to the Antarctic and worked as scientific lecturer on board a passenger vessel. In the Antarctic season 2019 /2020 she went back to Antarctica on board the Norwegian MS ROALD AMUNDSEN (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurtigruten) and joined the journey as expedition team member and scientific lecturer. [4]
Eiskalt vereint- die letzte Antarktis Expedition der DDR. (Servus TV, NTV 2011); Transantarctic Expedition- Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs & 40 Jahre British Commonwealth, together with Reinhold Messner, (German TV -3SAT, 1997); Rund um den Michel- TV Portrait Monika Puskeppeleit- polar expeditions. (German TV /NDR 1994); Medical Aid for Igarka, Siberia, together with Arved Fuchs, (German TV / RTL, 1993); Gender on Ice - Women in a Man's World, (Australian TV, Interview, 1993) and various other national and international TV work and radio interviews.
General recognition as the first German medical doctor and station leader of the first all-female team to overwinter in the Antarctic. [4]
Peter I Island is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Bellingshausen Sea, 450 kilometres (240 nmi) from continental Antarctica. It is claimed as a dependency of Norway and, along with Bouvet Island and Queen Maud Land, composes one of the three Norwegian dependent territories in the Antarctic and Subantarctic. The island measures approximately 11 by 19 kilometres, with an area of 156 km2 (60 sq mi); its highest point is the ultra-prominent, 1,640-metre-tall (5,380 ft) Lars Christensen Peak. Nearly all the island is covered by a glacier, and it is surrounded most of the year by pack ice, making it inaccessible during these times. There is little vertebrate animal life on the island, apart from some seabirds and seals.
New Swabia was a disputed Antarctic claim by Nazi Germany within the Norwegian territorial claim of Queen Maud Land and is now a cartographic name sometimes given to an area of Antarctica between 20°E and 10°W in Queen Maud Land. New Swabia was explored by Germany in early 1939 and named after that expedition's ship, Schwabenland, itself named after the German region of Swabia.
SANAE is the South African National Antarctic Expedition. The name refers both to the overwintering bases, and the team spending the winter. The current base, SANAE IV, is located at Vesleskarvet in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. Summer teams comprise administrative and maintenance personnel, helicopter crew and scientists from various countries and can be up to 100 people. Overwintering teams consist of scientists and support personnel from South Africa, typically totalling 10 members in recent years.
The Norwegian–British–Swedish Antarctic Expedition (1949–1952) was the first Antarctica expedition involving an international team of scientists. The team members came from Norway, Sweden and the British Commonwealth of Nations.
The Icebird is a cargo vessel which delivers supplies to the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) bases, principally Macquarie Island, Mawson, Casey and Davis Stations. The Icebird's maiden voyage to Antarctica began when she departed from Cape Town, South Africa in November 1984. In 1996, the vessel was renamed Polar Bird.
Troll is a Norwegian research station located at Jutulsessen, 235 kilometres (146 mi) from the coast in the eastern part of Princess Martha Coast in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. It is Norway's only all-year research station in Antarctica, and is supplemented by the summer-only station Tor. Troll is operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute and also features facilities for the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research.
Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski was a Polish geophysicist, meteorologist and explorer.
Caroline Mikkelsen was a Danish-Norwegian explorer who on 20 February 1935 was the first woman to set foot on Antarctica, although whether this was on the mainland or an island is a matter of dispute.
Seven sovereign states – Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom – have made eight territorial claims in Antarctica. These countries have tended to place their Antarctic scientific observation and study facilities within their respective claimed territories; however, a number of such facilities are located outside of the area claimed by their respective countries of operation, and countries without claims such as China, India, Italy, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa (SANAE), Poland, and the United States have constructed research facilities within the areas claimed by other countries. There are overlaps among the territories claimed by Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom.
SANAE IV is a current South African Antarctic research base located in Vesleskarvet, Queen Maud Land. The base is part of the South African National Antarctic Program (SANAP) and is operated by the South African National Antarctic Expedition.
Queen Maud Land is a roughly 2.7-million-square-kilometre (1.0-million-square-mile) region of Antarctica claimed by Norway as a dependent territory. It borders the claimed British Antarctic Territory 20° west and the Australian Antarctic Territory 45° east. In addition, a small unclaimed area from 1939 was annexed in June 2015. Positioned in East Antarctica, it makes out about one-fifth of the continent, and is named after the Norwegian Queen Maud (1869–1938).
Jutulsessen is a nunatak in the Gjelsvik Mountains in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. It is located in Princess Martha Coast, 235 kilometers (146 mi) from the King Haakon VII Sea. Jutulsessen is the site of the Norwegian research station Troll and the affiliated Troll Satellite Station, which has two radomes on top of the mountain. Troll Airfield is located in the vicinity.
Belgica was a barque-rigged steamship that was built in 1884 by Christian Brinch Jørgensen at Svelvik, Norway as the whaler Patria. In 1896, she was purchased by Adrien de Gerlache for conversion to a research ship, taking part in the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1901, becoming the first ship to overwinter in the Antarctic. In 1902, she was sold to Philippe, Duke of Orléans and used on expeditions to the Arctic in 1905 and from 1907 to 1909.
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Oceanwide Expeditions is a Dutch company specializing in expedition-style voyages to Antarctica and the Arctic. Deploying its own fleet of ice-strengthened vessels, Oceanwide emphasizes small-scale, flexible tours that provide passengers close contact with polar wildlife, landscapes, and historical sites. Tours usually take place in regions only accessible by sea, with little to no infrastructure. The locations visited are first reached by ship, after which expedition guides take small groups of passengers to landing sites by way of Zodiac Milpro RIBs, enabling safe cruising and maximum shore time.
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Cornelia Lüdecke is a German polar researcher and author. A leading figure in the history of German polar research and the history of meteorology and oceanography, she founded the Expert Group on History of Antarctic Research within the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), institutionalising historical study and reflection for the Antarctic scientific community. Her books, among others, about the Schwabenland Expedition to Antarctica during the Third Reich and Germans in the Antarctic are milestones in the history of polar research publications.
There may have been women in Antarctica, exploring the regions around Antarctica for many centuries. The most celebrated "first" for women was in 1935 when Caroline Mikkelsen became the first woman to set foot on one of Antarctica's islands. Early male explorers, such as Richard Byrd, named areas of Antarctica after wives and female heads of state. As Antarctica moved from a place of exploration and conquest to a scientific frontier, women worked to be included in the sciences. The first countries to have female scientists working in Antarctica were the Soviet Union, South Africa and Argentina.
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