Who was Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman better known as?

Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman was better known by her pen name, Nellie Bly.

Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in Pennsylvania in 1864, she adopted the professional name Nellie Bly after beginning her journalism career. The name came from a popular song, and she later used several forms of her legal name, including Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman after marriage.

Bly became famous for investigative reporting, especially her 1887 undercover investigation of the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island. Her reporting exposed neglect and abusive conditions inside the institution and helped popularize immersive, first-person journalism.

She was also celebrated for traveling around the world in 72 days in 1889–1890, inspired by Jules Verne’s fictional character Phileas Fogg. “Nellie Bly” is the canonical answer, although Elizabeth Jane Cochran is her birth name and Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman is her married name.