1865 born the daughter of a Jewish riflemaker in Forchheim

1884 marries Alfred Schichanowsky, who comes from a family of Prussian civil servants

1885 birth of son Alfred

1887 leaves her family, attends a school of art in Paris, meets the polar explorer Fritjof Nansen there, as well as Fredrick Cook and Robert Peary, develops a passion for the Arctic, and lives in Berlin as a freelance artist

1900 voyage by postal steamer to New York, rail journey across Canada to the Pacific coast, continues by ship to Nome in Western Alaska, seems to be successful as a gold prospector, first expedition to the Seward Peninsula, falls seriously ill, returns to Germany at end of year

1903 second trip to Alaska, searches for gold, goes on a short expedition to see Eskimos

1904 falls ill again, returns to her brother in New York, lives by selling her paintings

1906 travels via Havana, Panama and Mexico to San Francisco, which is destroyed by an earthquake shortly before her arrival. Travels on to Los Angeles

1908 travels north again, lives in a tent in the wilderness near Seattle, falls ill yet again, returns to her brother

1911 returns to Germany to get money for a further Alaska expedition, but this is prevented by World War I.