Emilio Palma

Emilio Marcos Palma
Emilio Marcos Palma
Born	Emilio Marcos des Palma; 7 January 1978 (age 46); Esperanza Base,; Trinity Peninsula, Antarctica
Citizenship	Argentine, British Overseas Territories citizen, British Citizen
Known for	Being the first human born on the Antarctic mainland
Relatives	Jorge Emilio Palma (father); Silvia Morella de Palma (mother);

Emilio Marcos Des Palma Morella (born 7 January 1978) is an Argentine man who was the first documented person born on the continent of Antarctica.

Biography

Palma was born in Fortín Sargento Cabral at the Esperanza Base, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, and weighed 3.4 kg (7 lb 8 oz). His father, Captain Jorge Emilio Palma, was head of the Argentine Army detachment at the base.^[1] While ten people have been born in Antarctica since, Palma's birthplace remains the southernmost.

In late 1977, Silvia Morella de Palma, who was then seven months pregnant, was airlifted to Esperanza Base, in order to complete her pregnancy in the base.^[2] The airlift was a part of the Argentine solutions to the sovereignty dispute over territory in Antarctica. Emilio was automatically granted Argentine citizenship by the government since his parents were both Argentine citizens, and he was born in the claimed Argentine Antarctica. This is a sector of Antarctica claimed by Argentina as part of its national territory, although this claim is not internationally recognised and overlaps with British and Chilean claims.^{[citation needed]}

He is featured in the Guinness Book of Records as the first person known to have been born on the continent.^[3]

Notes

^ This area was and is still disputed between the Argentine Antarctic Territory, British Antarctic Territory and Chilean Antarctic Territory.

References

^ "Life found under S Pole ice shelf". The Times. 10 January 1978.
^ "Born Freezing: Meet Antarctica's First Citizen". WebEcoist. Retrieved 12 July 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ The Guinness Book of Records. 1986. p. 17.