Bly, Nellie, 1864-1922

"Nellie Bly" was the pseudonym used by Elizabeth Jane Cochran (1864-1922) during her pioneering career as an investigative reporter. Writing for the New York World, the daring Bly sought to expose the ills of society, going so far as having herself committed to an insane asylum to view first-hand the treatment of the mentally ill. She is perhaps best known for her reporting as she traveled around the globe to challenge the record of the fictional Phileas T. Fogg from Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days—her journey lasted just over 72 days. In later years, Bly married millionaire manufacturer Robert Seaman. Taking over the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co. after his death, Elizabeth Cochran Seaman patented a steel barrel, viewed as the first practical 55-gallon oil drum. In 1998, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.