Sixth Person Born in Antarctica Presents Lecture at Sofia Science Festival

The sixth person born in Antarctica, Jose Manuel Valladares Solis, delivered the lecture “Born in Antarctica - Six” during the Sofia Science Festival at Sofia Tech Park on Saturday, dedicated to the little-known story of the total of 11 people born on the icy continent and to life in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet.

In an interview with BTA, Valladares said that his birth was not planned. His mother travelled to Esperanza Base as part of an official delegation - a 48-hour visit that turned into something entirely different. Three aeroplanes, a helicopter transfer, an accident along the way, and his father - a colonel with decades of Antarctic experience - setting off on foot with a sled and dogs to reach the base. By the time he arrived, Jose Manuel had already been born. He also recounted how a young couple of doctors on site improvised with the available equipment during his birth in order to save him.

His birth, like those of the other ten people born there, was the result of a political plan by the Argentine junta to assert territorial sovereignty through human presence on the continent. His father had opposed the plan, pointing out that it was irresponsible to bring pregnant women to a place without a hospital, airport or emergency assistance.

His mother died in 2024 - on February 22, Antarctica Day in Argentina.

Founder of the Native Antarcticans Foundation, Valladares has developed an international career in media and public speaking in the United States and Europe. The number six recurs throughout his life as a sign - he is the sixth person born on the continent, and his father supported the pilot who reached the South Pole as a representative of the sixth nation in history to do so.

Asked what message he would like to leave to people, Valladares said he believes Antarctica does not need territorial claims and flags, but people who work together as one.

He described Antarctica as a model of international cooperation in which people from different nations do not oppose one another, but work together. Valladares also asks himself why, as human beings, people cannot behave in the same way everywhere in the world.