Get to Know the First Women of The Explorers Club

Today there are more than 800 female members of The Explorers Club. Forty years ago, in the spring of 1981, there were none. But efforts were underway to change that. For several years, the Club's president, Charles Brush, had been pushing for change. There was considerable opposition; but others in the all-male organization, including astronomer Carl Sagan, were supportive. As the debate raged, Sagan wrote an eloquent letter to the board, concluding with a strong warning that "if membership in The Explorers Club is restricted to men, the loss will be ours."

When Brush presented his proposition to the membership for a vote in early 1981, the result of the secret ballot was close, 753 to 613 in favor of amending the bylaws to allow women into the club as members. The big announcement was made at the Annual Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel; and a few months later, in September, five women were elected as members. More were elected later in the fall; and by the end of the year, there were 16 women members of The Explorers Club. All had pushed their bold dreams into solid field research.

Check out these images from some of the extraordinary expeditions and accomplishments of four iconic explorers: Dr. Sylvia Earle, Kathy Sullivan, Carol Beckwith, and Anna Roosevelt.

March 03, 2021

By: The Explorers Club and Discovery

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Photo By: NASA on The Commons

Photo By: Enrique Alvarez

Dr. Sylvia Earle

Introducing Dr. Sylvia Earle - a marine biologist, author, lecturer, and Time Magazine's first "Hero of the Planet". Earle's open-ocean JIM suit dive to 1,250 feet in 1969, set the women's depth record that still stands today. In this moment, Pacific waters rush over JIM and Star II as they begin their descent.

Dr. Sylvia Earle

Earle inside of JIM, the atmospheric diving suit, grasping a piece of bamboo coral at 1,250 feet. Setting the women's depth record gave her the nickname "Her Deepness."

Dr. Sylvia Earle

Earle at the Tektite habitat capsule, an underwater laboratory.

Dr. Sylvia Earle

Earle and her DeepWorker Sub.

Dr. Sylvia Earle

Earle established Mission Blue, a non-profit that creates "Hope Spots" (marine protected areas) -- there are currently 132 around the world. Here's Earle at the Arctic Hope Spot.

Dr. Sylvia Earle

Earle at the Hawaii Hope Spot with the Pisces Sub.

Kathy Sullivan

Introducing Kathryn D. Sullivan - an oceanographer, astronaut, and the first person to travel to space and the deepest point on Earth.

STS-31 Mission Specialist Sullivan poses for a picture before donning her space suit and extravehicular mobility unit in the airlock of Discovery. Onboard the April 25, 1990 shuttle mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope, Sullivan remained ready to do a spacewalk in case there were problems putting the orbital observatory into space. The deployment went smoothly, and no spacewalk was necessary.

Kathy Sullivan

Sullivan helped design and deploy the Hubble Telescope.

Kathy Sullivan

Sullivan in space.

Kathy Sullivan

Sullivan moved from NASA to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and became their first female Administrator. Sullivan also served as Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere during the Obama administration.

Kathy Sullivan

Sullivan became the first woman to reach the bottom of the Marianas Trench in 2020, earning her a Guinness World Record for being the first person to travel to space and the deepest point on Earth.

Carol Beckwith

Introducing Carol Beckwith - an author, photojournalist, artist, and champion of cultural diversity. She has produced 17 books, hundreds of magazine articles, and several award-winning films documenting indigenous African cultures in collaboration with Angela Fisher.

Carol Beckwith

Beckwith and Fisher have amassed a remarkable archive of more than 500,000 images, 1000 hours of video, 200 illustrated journals, and five major traveling exhibits documenting traditional cultures in Africa.

Carol Beckwith

Spirit masks of Burkina Faso.

Carol Beckwith

Spirit masks of Burkina Faso.

Carol Beckwith

Stilt Dancers.

Carol Beckwith

Beckwith's powerful photography documents intimate portrayals of rituals and ceremonies from some of the most inaccessible corners of the continent.

Carol Beckwith

Wodaabe Male Charm Dancers with Female Judge. Beckwith and Fischer's work seeks to preserve and present the power, complexity and celebration found within the rituals of African tribal life.

Carol Beckwith

Beckwith in Surmaland.

Anna Roosevelt

Introducing Anna Roosevelt - an archaeologist, author, and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, known for her studies of human evolution and long-term interactions between humans and the environment.

Anna Roosevelt

Roosevelt is the former curator at the Museum of the American Indian, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Field Museum of Natural History.

Anna Roosevelt

In the Amazon Basin in the 1990s, Roosevelt discovered evidence that pointed to a different theory about the early settlement of the region. Most scientists thought that its first inhabitants were people from the Andes, but the artifacts she discovered in Paleo-Indian caves in Brazil suggested otherwise.

Anna Roosevelt

Roosevelt's discoveries in the Amazon Basin in the 1990s questioned old assumptions in archaeology, eventually leading her to ongoing research in the Congo Basin of Africa, where abandoned diamond mines are offering important gems of another kind---in the form of astounding new data.

Anna Roosevelt

Anna with solar powered computer in Taperhina, the Amazon.