Caroline Mikkelsen died on 15 September 1998, remembered as the first recorded woman to set foot in Antarctica.
Caroline Mikkelsen died on 15 September 1998, at the age of 91. By the time of her death, her name had become permanently linked to the history of Antarctic exploration as the first recorded woman to set foot on the continent's periphery, during the historic landing of 20 February 1935.
In the decades following her voyage aboard the M/S Thorshavn, Mikkelsen lived largely outside the public eye, with her extraordinary experience receiving relatively little attention until later historians and polar researchers began reexamining the roles women played in early twentieth-century exploration. Reportedly, she did not speak publicly about her Antarctic journey until roughly sixty years after the event, reflecting how overlooked women's contributions to polar history often were during much of the twentieth century.
Her death prompted renewed interest in her story among historians of Antarctic exploration and women's history, particularly as the centennial of the "Heroic Age" of Antarctic exploration approached and scholars sought to recover and honor the contributions of women like Mikkelsen who had been present at pivotal, if under-recognized, moments. Today, geographic features such as Mount Caroline Mikkelsen stand as lasting tributes to her place in the history of the far south.