Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Cochran. She took the pseudonym when she became a female journalist fo

Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Cochran. She took the pseudonym when she became a female journalist for the New York World newspaper, which was slightly scandalous at the time. This was the age of ‘stunt’ journalism, and Bly’s first report was to be an exposé of a women’s lunatic asylum. Pretending to be demented, Bly was admitted and experienced the lot of the patients confined on the island. The food was rancid, the nurses brutal, and the asylum hardly fit for humans. The article she wrote was a breakthrough in investigative journalism, and led to reform for mental hospitals. Her next adventure was one that brought her worldwide fame. Nellie Bly took the challenge to go around the world in less than 180 days, as told by the famous book. She set out with a special passport signed by the Secretary of State, on November 14, 1889. Her voyage started in seasickness but would end in triumph. In France, she met Jules Verne, who thought she might manage the trip in 79 days, but never the 75 she hoped. Having steamed across seas, gone through the Suez Canal, seen Colombo and Aden, visited a Chinese leper colony and bought a Monkey, Bly made it back to New York in a time of 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes. (There was a contest to see who could guess how long it would take, and one lucky man was only three seconds off, taking the prize.) -- source link

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