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Ingrid Christensen was a Norwegian explorer, thought to be among the first women to view Antarctica in the 1930s. She also had part of the coast named after her.

American Lois Jones led the first all-women team of scientists to the icy continent in 1969.

In-Young Ahn is the first South Korean woman to visit Antarctica andthe first Asian woman to lead an Antarctic station.

These are just three women whose Wikipedia profiles have been updated or written for the first time as part of a project aimed at raising awareness about women scientists in Antarctica.

SEE ALSO:Science writer proposes a new 'Women of NASA' LEGO set

The project is led by Jan Strugnell, a marine biologist at Australia's La Trobe University. After seeing women snubbed in keynotes and panels, as well as failing to be nominated for Antarctic science medals, she wanted to make a change.

Jan Strugnell and an octopus.Credit: La Trobe University

"A really large portion of early career researchers are women," she told Mashable Australia, "and I feel it's really important for tomorrow's Antarctic researchers that they have some role models."

Wikipedia is also lagging when it comes to biographies of women, which make up only an estimated 15.5 percent of those on the site.

Strugnell, who described herself as "perilously close to 40," said she has seen a growing emphasis on gender equality in the Antarctic science community during her career.

Nevertheless, women are still catching up after decades of being prevented from having Antarctic careers at all. Women scientists were largely banned from staying on the continent for projects until well into the 20th century.

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Lijie Wei,  Chinese Antarctic researcher.Credit: La Trobe University

Soviet geologist Maria Klenova is considered to be the first woman to begin scientific work in Antartica in 1956, but many countries didn't change their rules until the 1970s. Incredibly, women have only wintered at Britain's Halley Research Station since 1996. It was established in 1956.

This late start has led to a very limited public conception of just who can be an Antarctic scientist.

"If you think of Mawson and Scott and Shackleton -- you think of these beardy guys."

"When we think about Antarctic science and the history of that, it's all tied up in exploration," Strugnell explained. "If you think of Mawson and Scott and Shackleton -- you think of these beardy guys."

To begin the project, the team called on the Antarctic scientific community to nominate notable women and to volunteer to help write fully referenced articles about the chosen scientists.

A colleague at La Trobe, Thomas Shafee, guided the team of around 30 in the intricacies of Wikipedia. At this point, they have profiled close to 100 women from 30 countries.

"We've made a lot of effort to collect photos, and to gather as much information as we could about the women's early careers and achievements and how they got to where they are," she said.

Later in August, Strugnell will travel to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the team will celebrate the project.

Felicity Aston, British explorer, in Antarctica.Credit: La Trobe University

The effort has also received grants from a number of polar organisations to continue gathering the biographies. "One hundred and seventy women were actually nominated, and we're busy making profiles now, but we hope this will be ongoing," Strugnell said.

At the conference, they'll also teach people how to make Wikipedia pages. "In raising the profile of Antarctic women, we realised there aren't that many Antarctic men that are on Wikipedia," she pointed out. "The Arctic women are quite interested in what we've been doing."

Strugnell plans to continue to change our idea of Antarctic scientists, one Wikipedia profile at a time. Before she returns to Antartica in February, that is.

"By having equal representation wherever we can, it's a good way to try and stop that unconscious bias we all have," she said.

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