FIRST PERSON BORN IN ANTARCTICA

Emilio Marcos Palma (born January 7, 1978) is an Argentine man known for being the first documented person to be born on the continent of Antarctica.

Palma was born in Fortín Sargento Cabral at the Esperanza Base, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, and weighed 7 lb. 8 oz. His father, Captain Jorge Palma, was head of the Argentine Army detachment at the base.

In late 1977, Silvia Morella de Palma, who was then seven months pregnant, was airlifted to Esperanza Base, in order to complete her pregnancy in the base. The airlift was a part of the Argentine solutions to the sovereignty dispute over territory in Antarctica. Emilio was automatically granted Argentine citizenship by the government since his parents were both Argentine citizens, and he was born in the claimed Argentine Antarctica. This is a sector of Antarctica claimed by Argentina as part of its national territory, although this claim is not internationally recognized and overlaps with British and Chilean claims.