Antarctica (novel)
Most of the story is centred on McMurdo Station, the largest settlement in Antarctica, which is run as a scientific research station by the United States. Robinson's characteristic multiple-protagonist style is employed here to show many aspects of polar life; among the viewpoints presented are those of X, an idealistic young man working as a General Field Assistant at McMurdo; Val, an increasingly embittered trek guide; and Wade Norton, who works for the Californian Senator Phil Chase (Wade and Phil also appear in the "Science in the Capital" trilogy). As well as McMurdo, the story involves the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, the Shackleton Glacier, the McMurdo Dry Valleys and a South American drilling platform near Roberts Massif.
Monika Puskeppeleit
She approached the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in 1984, wanting to join a German overwintering team to the Antarctic. This goal was achieved in 1989. Puskeppeleit was the first German female doctor to overwinter at the Georg-von-Neumayer Station at Atka Bay (Eckström 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. 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. 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.