Emilio Marcos Palma

Emilio Marcos Palma (Fortín Sargento Cabral, Esperanza Base; January 7, 1978) is an Argentine citizen known for being the first person born on the Antarctic continent and, furthermore, his birth is the southernmost in recorded history. He is also the only man known to have been born for the first time on the continent. For these reasons, he is registered in the Guinness Book of Records.

Biography

Son of Argentine citizens Jorge Emilio Palma and María Silvia Morello; He was born in the Fortín Sargento Cabral , at the Esperanza Antarctic base, at the northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula. Jorge, his father, lieutenant colonel of the Argentine Army and head of the base detachment, and his mother, María, seven months pregnant, along with their three children, were transferred to the Antarctic continent by plane at the direction of the Argentine military dictatorship to that the woman gave birth to the first human being born in that territory, since Argentina claims its sovereignty over the area. On the one hand, the mother did not have to face nutrition problems in the first sensitive months of her pregnancy and the child, in addition to being the first native of Antarctica, would also be an Argentine citizen, as were the parents of she. The last months of pregnancy were not difficult.

The Argentine government had also implemented in 1977 that the relief personnel from the Esperanza base for the following year would do so accompanied by their families to form the population nucleus of the Fortín Sargento Cabral. Emilio's parents arrived at the base in December of that year. Seven school-aged children also traveled. After his birth, which occurred at 8:40 in the morning, he immediately acquired the nationality of that country.He weighed 3.4 kilograms.

Two Argentine clinical doctors who accompanied them from the first moment attended the birth, since the gynecologist and pediatrician from the Buenos Aires Military Hospital could not arrive due to the bad weather prevailing at that time. Pablo Pérez, head of Civil Registry No. 2506 of the Esperanza Base, signed Record No. 1 of the Birth Book, issuing the corresponding National Identity Document number 26,185,401.

Emilio Marcos Palma is an Argentine citizen, by virtue of the Roman legal concept of jus sanguinis, since the Roman legal concept of jus soli does not apply to Antarctica, under the Antarctic Treaty. The United Kingdom, which claims the area as part of the British Antarctic Territory, said Palma had the right to claim British citizenship under the terms of the British Overseas Territories nationality law. Neither he nor his parents submitted an application.

Palma has received letters from presidents of several countries and invitations to participate every decade in the Antarctic Treaty meetings, which he has never attended. He is currently a systems analyst and lives in Buenos Aires.

Other Antarctic

Solveig Gunbjörg Jacobsen, born in 1913 in Grytviken, a port on the north coast of South Georgia Island, is sometimes considered the first person born in Antarctica, as the island is south of the Antarctic Convergence.

Marisa de las Nieves Delgado was the first Antarctic girl, born at Esperanza Base on May 27, 1978, daughter of Juana Paula Benítez de Delgado and Sergeant Cook Néstor Antonio Delgado. Marisa was Emilio's partner. For By 1980, six more children had been born on the base: Rubén Eduardo de Carli (September 21, 1979), Francisco Javier Sosa (October 11, 1979), Silvina Analía Arnouil (January 14, 1980), José Manuel Valladares Solís (January 24, 1980), Lucas Daniel Posse (February 4, 1980) and María Sol Cosenza (May 3, 1983).

The Chilean government, which claims sovereignty over the same territory, six years later also sent Chilean citizens to have their own "Antarctic baby." On November 21, 1984, Juan Pablo Camacho was born at the Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva Base, thus becoming the first Chilean native of Antarctica and, unlike Emilio, he was the first to be conceived on the same continent. Then two other Chilean Antarcticans were born, Gisella Cortés Rojas, born on December 2, 1984, and the last of them, Ignacio Alfonso Miranda Lagunas, born on January 23, 1985, which to date is the most recent Antarctic birth..