Nellie Bly

Bly, Nellie (Elizabeth Cochrane; 1867–1922), U.S. reporter. She pretended to be insane to gain entry to an insane ward to report on treatment of the insane (1888). In 1889 she beat the record of the Jules Verne character Phileas Fogg (Around the World in Eighty Days), traveling around the world in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, and 14 seconds.