Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 186113 May 1930) was a Norwegian
polymath
A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
and
Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, and humanitarian. He led the team that made the first crossing of the
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
interior in 1888, traversing the island on cross-country skis. He won international fame after reaching a record northern latitude of 86°14′ during his
''Fram'' expedition of 1893–1896. Although he retired from exploration after his return to Norway, his techniques of polar travel and his innovations in equipment and clothing influenced a generation of subsequent
Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...
and
Antarctic expeditions.
Nansen studied
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
at the
Royal Frederick University
The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...
in
Christiania and later worked as a curator at the
University Museum of Bergen
The University Museum of Bergen ( no, Universitetsmuseet i Bergen) is a university museum in Bergen, Norway. The museum features material related to anthropology, archaeology, botany, geology, zoology, art, and cultural history.
History
The Univ ...
where his research on the central nervous system of lower marine creatures earned him a doctorate and helped establish
neuron
A neuron, neurone, or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. ...
doctrine. Later, neuroscientist
Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Santiago Ramón y Cajal (; 1 May 1852 – 17 October 1934) was a Spanish neuroscientist, pathologist, and histologist specializing in neuroanatomy and the central nervous system. He and Camillo Golgi received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Me ...
won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his research on the same subject. After 1896 his main scientific interest switched to
oceanography; in the course of his research he made many scientific cruises, mainly in the North Atlantic, and contributed to the development of modern oceanographic equipment.
As one of his country's leading citizens, in 1905 Nansen spoke out for the
ending of
Norway's union with Sweden, and was instrumental in persuading
Prince Carl of Denmark
Haakon VII (; born Prince Carl of Denmark; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was the King of Norway from November 1905 until his death in September 1957.
Originally a Danish prince, he was born in Copenhagen as the son of the future Frederick VI ...
to accept the throne of the newly independent Norway. Between 1906 and 1908 he served as the Norwegian representative in London, where he helped negotiate the Integrity Treaty that guaranteed Norway's independent status.
In the final decade of his life, Nansen devoted himself primarily to the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
, following his appointment in 1921 as the League's High Commissioner for Refugees. In 1922 he was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
for his work on behalf of the displaced victims of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and related conflicts. Among the initiatives he introduced was the "
Nansen passport
Nansen passports, originally and officially stateless persons passports, were internationally recognized refugee travel documents from 1922 to 1938, first issued by the League of Nations's Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees to stateles ...
" for stateless persons, a certificate that used to be recognized by more than 50 countries. He worked on behalf of refugees until his sudden death in 1930, after which the League established the
Nansen International Office for Refugees
The Nansen International Office for Refugees (''french: Office International Nansen pour les Réfugiés'') was an organization established in 1930 by the League of Nations and named after Fridtjof Nansen, soon after his death, which was internati ...
to ensure that his work continued. This office received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1938. His name is commemorated in numerous geographical features, particularly in the polar regions.
Family background and childhood
![Nansen-aged4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Nansen-aged4.jpg)
The Nansen family originated in Denmark.
Hans Nansen (1598–1667), a trader, was an early explorer of the
White Sea
The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is s ...
region of the Arctic Ocean. In later life he settled in Copenhagen, becoming the city's ''
borgmester'' in 1654. Later generations of the family lived in Copenhagen until the mid-18th century, when Ancher Antoni Nansen moved to Norway (then in
a union with Denmark). His son, Hans Leierdahl Nansen (1764–1821), was a magistrate first in the
Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...
district, later in
Jæren
Jæren is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in Rogaland county, Norway. The other districts in Rogaland are Dalane, Ryfylke, and Haugalandet. Jæren is one of the 15 districts that comprise Western Norway.
At about , Jæren is the large ...
. After Norway's separation from Denmark in 1814, he entered national political life as the representative for
Stavanger in the first
Storting, and became a strong advocate of union with Sweden. After suffering a paralytic stroke in 1821 Hans Leierdahl Nansen died, leaving a four-year-old son, Baldur Fridtjof Nansen, the explorer's father.
Baldur was a lawyer without ambitions for public life, who became Reporter to the
Supreme Court of Norway
The Supreme Court of Norway ( Norwegian Bokmål: ''(Norges) Høyesterett''; Norwegian Nynorsk: ''(Noregs) Høgsterett''; lit. ‘Highest Court’) was established in 1815 on the basis of section 88 in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway, w ...
. He married twice, the second time to Adelaide Johanne Thekla Isidore Bølling Wedel-Jarlsberg from
Bærum
Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...
, a niece of
Herman Wedel-Jarlsberg who had helped frame the
Norwegian constitution of 1814 and was later the Swedish king's Norwegian
Viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...
. Baldur and Adelaide settled at Store Frøen, an estate at Aker, a few kilometres north of Norway's capital city,
Christiania (since renamed Oslo). The couple had three children; the first died in infancy, the second, born 10 October 1861, was Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen.
[Reynolds, pp. 11–14][Huntford, pp. 7–12]
Store Frøen's rural surroundings shaped the nature of Nansen's childhood. In the short summers the main activities were swimming and fishing, while in the autumn the chief pastime was hunting for game in the forests. The long winter months were devoted mainly to skiing, which Nansen began to practice at the age of two, on improvised skis.
At the age of 10 he defied his parents and attempted the ski jump at the nearby
Huseby installation. This exploit had near-disastrous consequences, as on landing the skis dug deep into the snow, pitching the boy forward: "I, head first, described a fine arc in the air ...
en I came down again I bored into the snow up to my waist. The boys thought I had broken my neck, but as soon as they saw there was life in me ... a shout of mocking laughter went up."
Nansen's enthusiasm for skiing was undiminished, though as he records, his efforts were overshadowed by those of the skiers from the mountainous region of
Telemark
Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...
, where a
new style of skiing was being developed. "I saw this was the only way", wrote Nansen later.
At school, Nansen worked adequately without showing any particular aptitude.
Studies took second place to sports, or to expeditions into the forests where he would live "like
Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...
" for weeks at a time. Through such experiences Nansen developed a marked degree of self-reliance. He became an accomplished skier and a highly proficient
skater. Life was disrupted when, in the summer of 1877, Adelaide Nansen died suddenly. Distressed, Baldur Nansen sold the Store Frøen property and moved with his two sons to Christiania. Nansen's sporting prowess continued to develop; at 18 he broke the world one-mile (1.6 km) skating record, and in the following year won the national cross-country skiing championship, a feat he would repeat on 11 subsequent occasions.
Student and adventurer
![Fridtjof Nansen 1880](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Fridtjof_Nansen_1880.jpg)
In 1880 Nansen passed his university entrance examination, the ''
examen artium
Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1 ...
''. He decided to study
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
, claiming later that he chose the subject because he thought it offered the chance of a life in the open air. He began his studies at the
Royal Frederick University
The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...
in Christiania early in 1881.
Early in 1882 Nansen took "...the first fatal step that led me astray from the quiet life of science."
[Scott, p. 15] Professor
Robert Collett
Robert Collett (2 December 1842 – 27 January 1913) was a Norwegian zoologist. Collett was director and curator of the Zoological Museum at University of Oslo.
Robert Collett was born at Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was the eldest child ...
of the university's zoology department proposed that Nansen take a sea voyage, to study Arctic zoology at first hand. Nansen was enthusiastic, and made arrangements through a recent acquaintance, Captain Axel Krefting, commander of the
sealer ''
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
''. The voyage began on 11 March 1882 and extended over the following five months. In the weeks before sealing started, Nansen was able to concentrate on scientific studies.
From water samples he showed that, contrary to previous assumption, sea ice forms on the surface of the water rather than below. His readings also demonstrated that the
Gulf Stream flows beneath a cold layer of surface water. Through the spring and early summer ''Viking'' roamed between Greenland and
Spitsbergen in search of seal herds. Nansen became an expert marksman, and on one day proudly recorded that his team had shot 200 seals. In July, ''Viking'' became trapped in the ice close to an unexplored section of the Greenland coast; Nansen longed to go ashore, but this was impossible.
However, he began to develop the idea that the
Greenland icecap might be explored, or even crossed.
On 17 July the ship broke free from the ice, and early in August was back in Norwegian waters.
[Huntford, pp. 21–27]
Nansen did not resume formal studies at the university. Instead, on Collett's recommendation, he accepted a post as curator in the zoological department of the
Bergen Museum
The University Museum of Bergen ( no, Universitetsmuseet i Bergen) is a university museum in Bergen, Norway. The museum features material related to anthropology, archaeology, botany, geology, zoology, art, and cultural history.
History
The Univ ...
. He was to spend the next six years of his life there—apart from a six-month
sabbatical tour of Europe—working and studying with leading figures such as
Gerhard Armauer Hansen, the discoverer of the
leprosy
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...
bacillus, and
Daniel Cornelius Danielssen
Daniel Cornelius Danielssen (4 July 1815 – 13 July 1894) was a Norwegian physician. He was most noted for his research regarding the causes and treatment of leprosy.
Biography
Danielssen was from Bergen, Norway. Dating from 1839, he was ass ...
, the museum's director who had turned it from a backwater collection into a centre of scientific research and education. Nansen's chosen area of study was the then relatively unexplored field of
neuroanatomy
Neuroanatomy is the study of the structure and organization of the nervous system. In contrast to animals with radial symmetry, whose nervous system consists of a distributed network of cells, animals with bilateral symmetry have segregated, defi ...
, specifically the central nervous system of lower marine creatures. Before leaving for his sabbatical in February 1886 he published a paper summarising his research to date, in which he stated that "anastomoses or unions between the different ganglion cells" could not be demonstrated with certainty. This unorthodox view was confirmed by the simultaneous research of the embryologist
Wilhelm His and the psychiatrist
August Forel. Nansen is considered the first Norwegian defender of the neuron theory, originally proposed by
Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Santiago Ramón y Cajal (; 1 May 1852 – 17 October 1934) was a Spanish neuroscientist, pathologist, and histologist specializing in neuroanatomy and the central nervous system. He and Camillo Golgi received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Me ...
. His subsequent paper, ''The Structure and Combination of Histological Elements of the Central Nervous System'', published in 1887, became his doctoral thesis.
Crossing of Greenland
Planning
![A E Nordenskiold](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/A_E_Nordenskiold.jpg)
The idea of an expedition across the Greenland icecap grew in Nansen's mind throughout his Bergen years. In 1887, after the submission of his
doctoral thesis
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
, he finally began organising this project. Before then, the two most significant penetrations of the Greenland interior had been those of
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld
Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (18 November 183212 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the Fenno-Swedish Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friher ...
in 1883, and
Robert Peary in 1886. Both had set out from
Disko Bay on the western coast, and had travelled about eastward before turning back. By contrast, Nansen proposed to travel from east to west, ending rather than beginning his trek at Disko Bay. A party setting out from the inhabited west coast would, he reasoned, have to make a return trip, as no ship could be certain of reaching the dangerous east coast and picking them up. By starting from the east—assuming that a landing could be made there—Nansen's would be a one-way journey towards a populated area. The party would have no line of retreat to a safe base; the only way to go would be forward, a situation that fitted Nansen's philosophy completely.
Nansen rejected the complex organisation and heavy manpower of other Arctic ventures, and instead planned his expedition for a small party of six. Supplies would be
manhauled on specially designed lightweight sledges. Much of the equipment, including sleeping bags, clothing and cooking stoves, also needed to be designed from scratch. These plans received a generally poor reception in the press; one critic had no doubt that "if
hescheme be attempted in its present form ... the chances are ten to one that he will ... uselessly throw his own and perhaps others' lives away". The Norwegian parliament refused to provide financial support, believing that such a potentially risky undertaking should not be encouraged. The project was eventually launched with a donation from a Danish businessman, Augustin Gamél; the rest came mainly from small contributions from Nansen's countrymen, through a fundraising effort organised by students at the university.
Despite the adverse publicity, Nansen received numerous applications from would-be adventurers. He wanted expert skiers, and attempted to recruit from the skiers of Telemark, but his approaches were rebuffed. Nordenskiöld had advised Nansen that
Sami people, from Finnmark in the far north of Norway, were expert snow travellers, so Nansen recruited a pair,
Samuel Balto
Samuel Johannesen Balto (May 5, 1861 – 1921) was a Northern Sámi people, Saami explorer and adventurer. Balto skied with Fridtjof Nansen across Greenland in 1888–89.
Biography
Samuel Johannesen Balto was born in Karasjok in Finnmark county ...
and
Ole Nielsen Ravna
Ole Nilsen Ravna (31 October 1841 - 11 August 1906) was a Northern Saami adventurer, explorer and reindeer herder. He skied with Fridtjof Nansen across Greenland in 1888–89.
Biography
Ole Nilsen Ravna was born on October, 31 1841 in Karasjo ...
. The remaining places went to
Otto Sverdrup
Otto Neumann Knoph Sverdrup (31 October 1854, in Bindal, Helgeland – 26 November 1930) was a Norwegian sailor and Arctic explorer.
Early and personal life
He was born in Bindal as a son of farmer Ulrik Frederik Suhm Sverdrup (1833–1914) ...
, a former sea-captain who had more recently worked as a forester;
Oluf Christian Dietrichson, an army officer, and
Kristian Kristiansen, an acquaintance of Sverdrup's. All had experience of outdoor life in extreme conditions, and were experienced skiers.
Just before the party's departure, Nansen attended a formal examination at the university, which had agreed to receive his doctoral thesis. In accordance with custom he was required to defend his work before appointed examiners acting as
"devil's advocates". He left before knowing the outcome of this process.
[Huntford, pp. 87–92]
Expedition
![Nansen Greenland Crossing Map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Nansen_Greenland_Crossing_Map.png)
The sealer
''Jason'' picked up Nansen's party on 3 June 1888 from the Icelandic port of
Ísafjörður
Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland.
The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...
. They sighted the Greenland coast a week later, but thick
pack ice
Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Unlike fast ice, which is "fasten ...
hindered progress. With the coast still away, Nansen decided to launch the small boats. They were within sight of
Sermilik Fjord on 17 July; Nansen believed it would offer a route up the icecap.
[Huntford 2001, pp. 97–99.]
The expedition left ''Jason'' "in good spirits and with the highest hopes of a fortunate result."
Days of extreme frustration followed as they drifted south. Weather and sea conditions prevented them from reaching the shore. They spent most time camping on the ice itself—it was too dangerous to launch the boats.
By 29 July, they found themselves south of the point where they left the ship. That day they finally reached land but were too far south to begin the crossing. Nansen ordered the team back into the boats after a brief rest and to begin rowing north. The party battled northward along the coast through the ice floes for the next 12 days. They encountered a large Eskimo encampment on the first day, near Cape Steen Bille. Occasional contacts with the nomadic native population continued as the journey progressed.
![NansenBoatsGreenland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/NansenBoatsGreenland.png)
The party reached
Umivik Bay on 11 August, after covering . Nansen decided they needed to begin the crossing. Although they were still far south of his intended starting place; the season was becoming too advanced. After they landed at Umivik, they spent the next four days preparing for their journey. They set out on the evening of 15 August, heading north-west towards
Christianhaab on the western shore of Disko Bay— away.
Over the next few days, the party struggled to ascend. The inland ice had a treacherous surface with many hidden
crevasses
A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pie ...
and the weather was bad. Progress stopped for three days because of violent storms and continuous rain one time. The last ship was due to leave Christianhaab by mid-September. They would not be able to reach it in time, Nansen concluded on 26 August. He ordered a change of course due west, towards
Godthaab; a shorter journey by at least . The rest of the party, according to Nansen, "hailed the change of plan with acclamation."
They continued climbing until 11 September and reached a height of above sea level. Temperatures on the icecap summit of the icecap dropped to at night. From then on the downward slope made travelling easier. Yet, the terrain was rugged and the weather remained hostile. Progress was slow: fresh snowfalls made dragging the sledges like pulling them through sand.
On 26 September, they battled their way down the edge of a
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Förden and East Jutland Fjorde, Germany, ...
westward towards Godthaab. Sverdrup constructed a makeshift boat out of parts of the sledges, willows, and their tent. Three days later, Nansen and Sverdrup began the last stage of the journey; rowing down the fjord.
On 3 October, they reached
Godthaab, where the Danish town representative greeted them. He first informed Nansen that he secured his doctorate, a matter that "could not have been more remote from
ansen'sthoughts at that moment." The team accomplished their crossing in 49 days. Throughout the journey, they maintained meteorological and geographical and other records relating to the previously unexplored interior.
The rest of the team arrived in Godthaab on 12 October. Nansen soon learned no ship was likely to call at Godthaab until the following spring. Still, they were able to send letters back to Norway via a boat leaving
Ivigtut
Ivittuut (formerly, Ivigtût) (Kalaallisut: "Grassy Place") is an abandoned mining town near Cape Desolation in southwestern Greenland, in the modern Sermersooq municipality on the ruins of the former Norse Middle Settlement.
Ivittuut is one ...
at the end of October. He and his party spent the next seven months in Greenland. On 15 April 1889, the Danish ship ''Hvidbjørnen'' finally entered the harbour. Nansen recorded: "It was not without sorrow that we left this place and these people, among whom we had enjoyed ourselves so well."
Interlude and marriage
![FridtjofNansenEvaSars1889](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/FridtjofNansenEvaSars1889.jpg)
''Hvidbjørnen'' reached Copenhagen on 21 May 1889. News of the crossing had preceded its arrival, and Nansen and his companions were feted as heroes. This welcome, however, was dwarfed by the reception in Christiania a week later, when crowds of between thirty and forty thousand—a third of the city's population—thronged the streets as the party made its way to the first of a series of receptions. The interest and enthusiasm generated by the expedition's achievement led directly to the formation that year of the
Norwegian Geographical Society.
[Huntford, pp. 156–163]
Nansen accepted the position of curator of the Royal Frederick University's zoology collection, a post which carried a salary but involved no duties; the university was satisfied by the association with the explorer's name.
Nansen's main task in the following weeks was writing his account of the expedition, but he found time late in June to visit London, where he met
the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers o ...
(the future
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...
), and addressed a meeting of the
Royal Geographical Society (RGS).
The RGS president, Sir
Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff
Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff (21 February 1829 – 12 January 1906), known as M. E. Grant Duff before 1887 and as Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff thereafter, was a Scottish politician, administrator and author. He served as the Under-Sec ...
, said that Nansen has claimed "the foremost place amongst northern travellers", and later awarded him the Society's prestigious
Patron's Medal
The Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal consists of two separate awards: the Founder's Medal 1830 and the Patron's Medal 1838. Together they form the most prestigious of the society's awards. They are given for "the encouragement and promoti ...
. This was one of many honours Nansen received from institutions all over Europe.
[Reynolds, pp. 71–72] He was invited by a group of Australians to lead an expedition to Antarctica, but declined, believing that Norway's interests would be better served by a North Pole conquest.
On 11 August 1889 Nansen announced his engagement to
Eva Sars
Eva Helene Nansen (née Sars; 17 December 1858 – 9 December 1907) was a celebrated Norwegian mezzo-soprano singer. She was also a pioneer of women's skiing.
Personal life
Born in Christiania (now Oslo), she was a daughter of priest and profes ...
, the daughter of
Michael Sars
Michael Sars (30 August 1805 – 22 October 1869) was a Norwegian theologian and biologist.
Biography
Sars was born in Bergen, Norway. He studied natural history and theology at Royal Frederick University from 1823 and completed a cand.theol. ...
, a zoology professor who had died when Eva was 11 years old.
The couple had met some years previously, at the skiing resort of
Frognerseteren
Frognerseteren is a neighborhood of Oslo, Norway, located within Nordmarka. It is a popular starting point for recreational hiking and skiing in Oslo. Frognerseteren Station is the terminal station of the Holmenkollen Line of the Oslo Metro. Fro ...
, where Nansen recalled seeing "two feet sticking out of the snow".
Eva was three years older than Nansen, and despite the evidence of this first meeting, was an accomplished skier. She was also a celebrated classical singer who had been coached in Berlin by
Désirée Artôt
Désirée Artôt (; 21 July 1835 – 3 April 1907) was a Belgian soprano (initially a mezzo-soprano), who was famed in German and Italian opera and sang mainly in Germany. In 1868 she was engaged, briefly, to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who may h ...
, one-time paramour of
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
. The engagement surprised many; since Nansen had previously expressed himself forcefully against the institution of marriage, Otto Sverdrup assumed he had read the message wrongly. The wedding took place on 6 September 1889, less than a month after the engagement.
[Huntford, pp. 168–173]
''Fram'' expedition
Planning
![No-nb bldsa 1a012 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/No-nb_bldsa_1a012_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Nansen first began to consider the possibility of reaching the North Pole after reading meteorologist
Henrik Mohn's theory on
transpolar drift in 1884. Artefacts found on the coast of Greenland were identified to have come from the
''Jeannette'' expedition. In June 1881, was crushed and sunk off the Siberian coast—the opposite side of the Arctic Ocean. Mohn surmised the location of the artefacts indicated the existence of an ocean current from east to west, all the way across the polar sea and possibly over the pole itself.
[Nansen 1897, vol. I, pp. 14–38.]
The idea remained fixated in Nansen's mind for the next couple of years.
He developed a detailed plan for a polar venture after his triumphant return from Greenland. He made his idea public in February 1890, at a meeting of the newly formed Norwegian Geographical Society. Previous expeditions, he argued, approached the North Pole from the west and failed because they were working against the prevailing east–west current; the secret was to work with the current.
A workable plan would require a sturdy and manoeuvrable small ship, capable of carrying fuel and provisions for twelve men for five years. This ship would enter the ice pack close to the approximate location of ''Jeannette's'' sinking, drifting west with the current towards the pole and beyond it—eventually reaching the sea between Greenland and Spitsbergen.
Experienced polar explorers were dismissive:
Adolphus Greely
Adolphus Washington Greely (March 27, 1844 – October 20, 1935) was a United States Army officer and polar explorer. He attained the rank of major general and was a recipient of the Medal of Honor.
A native of Newburyport, Massachusetts an ...
called the idea "an illogical scheme of self-destruction". Equally dismissive were
Sir Allen Young, a veteran of the searches for
Franklin's lost expedition
Franklin's lost expedition was a failed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845 aboard two ships, and , and was assigned to traverse the last unnavigated sect ...
, and
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, who had sailed to the Antarctic on the
Ross expedition.
[Berton, p. 492.] Nansen still managed to secure a grant from the Norwegian parliament after an impassioned speech. Additional funding was secured through a national appeal for private donations.
[Fleming, pp. 239–240.]
Preparations
Nansen chose naval engineer
Colin Archer Colin Archer (22 July 1832 – 8 February 1921) was a Norwegian naval architect and shipbuilder known for his seaworthy pilot and rescue boats and the larger sailing and polar ships. His most famous ship is the '' Fram'', used on both in Fridt ...
to design and build a ship. Archer designed an extraordinarily sturdy vessel with an intricate system of crossbeams and braces of the toughest oak timbers. Its rounded hull was designed to push the ship upwards when beset by pack ice. Speed and manoeuvrability were to be secondary to its ability as a safe and warm shelter during their predicted confinement.
The length-to-beam ratio— and —gave it a stubby appearance,
[Huntford, pp. 192–197.] justified by Archer: "A ship that is built with exclusive regard to its suitability for
ansen'sobject must differ essentially from any known vessel." It was christened ''
Fram'' and launched on 6 October 1892.
Nansen selected a party of twelve from thousands of applicants.
Otto Sverdrup
Otto Neumann Knoph Sverdrup (31 October 1854, in Bindal, Helgeland – 26 November 1930) was a Norwegian sailor and Arctic explorer.
Early and personal life
He was born in Bindal as a son of farmer Ulrik Frederik Suhm Sverdrup (1833–1914) ...
, who took part in Nansen's earlier Greenland expedition was appointed as the expedition's second-in-command.
Competition was so fierce that army lieutenant and dog-driving expert
Hjalmar Johansen
Fredrik Hjalmar Johansen (15 May 1867 – 3 January 1913) was a Norwegian polar explorer. He participated on the first and third '' Fram'' expeditions. He shipped out with the Fridtjof Nansen expedition in 1893–1896, and accompanied Nansen ...
signed on as ship's stoker, the only position still available.
[Nansen 1897, vol. I, pp. 78–81.][Huntford, pp. 222–223.]
Into the ice
![Nansen Fram Map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Nansen_Fram_Map.png)
''
Fram'' left
Christiania on 24 June 1893, cheered on by thousands of well-wishers. After a slow journey around the coast, the final port of call was
Vardø
( fi, Vuoreija, fkv, Vuorea, se, Várggát) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county in the extreme northeastern part of Norway. Vardø is the easternmost town in Norway, more to the east than Saint Petersburg or Istanbul. The administr ...
, in the far north-east of Norway.
''Fram'' left Vardø on 21 July, following the
North-East Passage route pioneered by Nordenskiöld in 1878–1879, along the northern coast of Siberia. Progress was impeded by fog and ice conditions in the mainly uncharted seas.
The crew also experienced the
dead water phenomenon, where a ship's forward progress is impeded by friction caused by a layer of fresh water lying on top of heavier salt water. Nevertheless,
Cape Chelyuskin
Cape Chelyuskin (russian: Мыс Челюскина, ''Mys Chelyuskina'') is the northernmost point of the Afro-Eurasian continent (and indeed of any continental mainland), and the northernmost point of mainland Russia. It is situated at the tip o ...
, the most northerly point of the Eurasian continental mass, was passed on 10 September.
Heavy
pack ice
Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Unlike fast ice, which is "fasten ...
was sighted ten days later at around latitude 78°N, as ''Fram'' approached the area in which was crushed. Nansen followed the line of the pack northwards to a position recorded as , before ordering engines stopped and the rudder raised. From this point ''Fram's'' drift began. The first weeks in the ice were frustrating, as the drift moved unpredictably; sometimes north, sometimes south.
By 19 November, ''Fram's'' latitude was south of that at which she had entered the ice. Only after the turn of the year, in January 1894, did the northerly direction become generally settled; the 80°N mark was finally passed on 22 March. Nansen calculated that, at this rate, it might take the ship five years to reach the pole.
As the ship's northerly progress continued at a rate rarely above a kilometre and a half per day, Nansen began privately to consider a new plan—a
dog sledge journey towards the pole.
[Huntford, pp. 257–258.] With this in mind, he began to practice dog-driving, making many experimental journeys over the ice.
In November, Nansen announced his plan: when the ship passed latitude 83°N, he and Hjalmar Johansen would leave the ship with the dogs and make for the pole while ''Fram'', under Sverdrup, continued its drift until it emerged from the ice in the North Atlantic. After reaching the pole, Nansen and Johansen would make for the nearest known land, the recently discovered and sketchily mapped
Franz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land, Frantz Iosef Land, Franz Joseph Land or Francis Joseph's Land ( rus, Земля́ Фра́нца-Ио́сифа, r=Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa, no, Fridtjof Nansen Land) is a Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. It is inhabited on ...
. They would then cross to
Spitzbergen where they would find a ship to take them home.
The crew spent the rest of the winter of 1894 preparing clothing and equipment for the forthcoming sledge journey.
Kayaks
A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word '' qajaq'' ().
The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each s ...
were built, to be carried on the sledges until needed for the crossing of open water. Preparations were interrupted early in January when violent tremors shook the ship. The crew disembarked, fearing the vessel would be crushed, but ''Fram'' proved herself equal to the danger. On 8 January 1895, the ship's position was 83°34′N, above Greely's
previous record of 83°24′N.
Dash for the pole
![Nansen Johansen depart 14 March 1895](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Nansen_Johansen_depart_14_March_1895.jpg)
With the ship's latitude at 84°4′N and after two false starts, Nansen and Johansen began their journey on 14 March 1895. Nansen allowed 50 days to cover the to the pole, an average daily journey of . After a week of travel, a
sextant observation indicated they averaged per day, which put them ahead of schedule. However, uneven surfaces made skiing more difficult, and their speeds slowed. They also realised they were marching against a southerly drift, and that distances travelled did not necessarily equate to distance progressed.
[Fleming, p. 248.]
On 3 April, Nansen began to doubt whether the pole was attainable. Unless their speed improved, their food would not last them to the pole and back to
Franz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land, Frantz Iosef Land, Franz Joseph Land or Francis Joseph's Land ( rus, Земля́ Фра́нца-Ио́сифа, r=Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa, no, Fridtjof Nansen Land) is a Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. It is inhabited on ...
.
He confided in his diary: "I have become more and more convinced we ought to turn before time." Four days later, after making camp, he observed the way ahead was "... a veritable chaos of iceblocks stretching as far as the horizon." Nansen recorded their latitude as 86°13′6″N—almost three degrees beyond the previous record—and decided to turn around and head back south.
Retreat
At first Nansen and Johansen made good progress south, but suffered a serious setback on 13 April, when in his eagerness to break camp, they had forgotten to wind their
chronometer
A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and th ...
s, which made it impossible to calculate their longitude and accurately navigate to Franz Josef Land. They restarted the watches based on Nansen's guess they were at 86°E. From then on they were uncertain of their true position. The tracks of an
Arctic fox
The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in ...
were observed towards the end of April. It was the first trace of a living creature other than their dogs since they left ''Fram''. They soon saw bear tracks and by the end of May saw evidence of nearby seals, gulls and whales.
![WinterHutFJL](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/WinterHutFJL.jpg)
On 31 May, Nansen calculated they were only from
Cape Fligely
Cape Fligely (; ''Mys Fligeli''), is located on the northern shores of Rudolf Island and Franz Josef Land in the Russian Federation, and is the northernmost point of Russia, Europe, and Eurasia as a whole. It is south from the North Pole.
Histo ...
, Franz Josef Land's northernmost point. Travel conditions worsened as increasingly warmer weather caused the ice to break up. On 22 June, the pair decided to rest on a stable
ice floe
An ice floe () is a large pack of floating ice often defined as a flat piece at least 20 m across at its widest point, and up to more than 10 km across. Drift ice is a floating field of sea ice composed of several ice floes. They may cau ...
while they repaired their equipment and gathered strength for the next stage of their journey. They remained on the floe for a month.
The day after leaving this camp, Nansen recorded: "At last the marvel has come to pass—land, land, and after we had almost given up our belief in it!" Whether this still-distant land was Franz Josef Land or a new discovery they did not know—they had only a rough sketch map to guide them. The edge of the pack ice was reached on 6 August and they shot the last of their dogs—the weakest of which they killed regularly to feed the others since 24 April. The two kayaks were lashed together, a sail was raised, and they made for the land.
It soon became clear this land was part of an archipelago. As they moved southwards, Nansen tentatively identified a headland as Cape Felder on the western edge of Franz Josef Land. Towards the end of August, as the weather grew colder and travel became increasingly difficult, Nansen decided to camp for the winter. In a sheltered cove, with stones and moss for building materials, the pair erected a hut which was to be their home for the next eight months. With ready supplies of bear, walrus and seal to keep their larder stocked, their principal enemy was not hunger but inactivity. After muted Christmas and New Year celebrations, in slowly improving weather, they began to prepare to leave their refuge, but it was 19 May 1896 before they were able to resume their journey.
Rescue and return
On 17 June, during a stop for repairs after the kayaks had been attacked by a
walrus
The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the fami ...
, Nansen thought he heard a dog barking as well as human voices. He went to investigate, and a few minutes later saw the figure of a man approaching.
[Fleming, pp. 261–262.] It was the British explorer
Frederick Jackson, who was leading an expedition to Franz Josef Land and was camped at
Cape Flora
Northbrook Island (russian: остров Нортбрук) is an island located in the southern edge of the Franz Josef Archipelago, Russia. Its highest point is 344 m above sea level.
Northbrook Island is one of the most accessible locations i ...
on nearby
Northbrook Island
Northbrook Island (russian: остров Нортбрук) is an island located in the southern edge of the Franz Josef Archipelago, Russia. Its highest point is 344 m above sea level.
Northbrook Island is one of the most accessible locations i ...
. The two were equally astonished by their encounter; after some awkward hesitation Jackson asked: "You are Nansen, aren't you?", and received the reply "Yes, I am Nansen."
Johansen was picked up and the pair were taken to Cape Flora where, during the following weeks, they recuperated from their ordeal. Nansen later wrote that he could "still scarcely grasp" their sudden change of fortune; had it not been for the walrus attack that caused the delay, the two parties might have been unaware of each other's existence.
![CapeFloraMeeting](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/CapeFloraMeeting.jpg)
On 7 August, Nansen and Johansen boarded Jackson's supply ship ''Windward'', and sailed for Vardø where they arrived on the 13th. They were greeted by Hans Mohn, the originator of the polar drift theory, who was in the town by chance. The world was quickly informed by telegram of Nansen's safe return, but as yet there was no news of ''Fram''.
Taking the weekly mail steamer south, Nansen and Johansen reached
Hammerfest
Hammerfest (; sme, Hámmerfeasta ) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Hammerfest is the northernmost town in the world with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hammerf ...
on 18 August, where they learned that ''Fram'' had been sighted. She had emerged from the ice north and west of Spitsbergen, as Nansen had predicted, and was now on her way to Tromsø. She had not passed over the pole, nor exceeded Nansen's northern mark. Without delay Nansen and Johansen sailed for Tromsø, where they were reunited with their comrades.
[Fleming, pp. 264–265.]
The homeward voyage to Christiania was a series of triumphant receptions at every port. On 9 September, ''Fram'' was escorted into Christiania's harbour and welcomed by the largest crowds the city had ever seen. The crew were received by King Oscar, and Nansen, reunited with family, remained at the palace for several days as special guests. Tributes arrived from all over the world; typical was that from the British mountaineer
Edward Whymper
Edward Whymper FRSE (27 April 184016 September 1911) was an English mountaineer, explorer, illustrator, and author best known for the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. Four members of his climbing party were killed during the descent. W ...
, who wrote that Nansen had made "almost as great an advance as has been accomplished by all other voyages in the nineteenth century put together".
National figure
Scientist and polar oracle
Nansen's first task on his return was to write his account of the voyage. This he did remarkably quickly, producing 300,000 words of Norwegian text by November 1896; the English translation, titled ''Farthest North'', was ready in January 1897. The book was an instant success, and secured Nansen's long-term financial future. Nansen included without comment the one significant adverse criticism of his conduct, that of Greely, who had written in ''
Harper's Weekly
''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...
'' on Nansen's decision to leave ''Fram'' and strike for the pole: "It passes comprehension how Nansen could have thus deviated from the most sacred duty devolving on the commander of a naval expedition."
During the 20 years following his return from the Arctic, Nansen devoted most of his energies to scientific work. In 1897 he accepted a professorship in zoology at the
Royal Frederick University
The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...
, which gave him a base from which he could tackle the major task of editing the reports of the scientific results of the ''Fram'' expedition. This was a much more arduous task than writing the expedition narrative. The results were eventually published in six volumes, and according to a later polar scientist,
Robert Rudmose-Brown
Robert Neal Rudmose-Brown was an academic botanist and polar explorer.
Early life
Rudmose-Brown was born on 13 September 1879, the younger son of an Arctic enthusiast, and educated at Dulwich College. He studied Natural Sciences at the Univer ...
, "were to Arctic oceanography what the
''Challenger'' expedition results had been to the oceanography of other oceans."
In 1900, Nansen became director of the Christiania-based International Laboratory for North Sea Research, and helped found the
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES; french: Conseil International de l'Exploration de la Mer, ''CIEM'') is a regional fishery advisory body and the world's oldest intergovernmental science organization. ICES is headqu ...
. Through his connection with the latter body, in the summer of 1900 Nansen embarked on his first visit to Arctic waters since the ''Fram'' expedition, a cruise to Iceland and Jan Mayen Land on the oceanographic research vessel ''Michael Sars'', named after Eva's father. Shortly after his return he learned that his Farthest North record had been passed, by members of
the Duke of the Abruzzi's Italian expedition. They had reached 86°34′N on 24 April 1900, in an attempt to reach the North Pole from Franz Josef Land. Nansen received the news philosophically: "What is the value of having goals for their own sake? They all vanish ... it is merely a question of time."
![Polhøgda](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Polh%C3%B8gda.jpg)
Nansen was now considered an oracle by all would-be explorers of the north and south polar regions. Abruzzi had consulted him, as had the Belgian
Adrien de Gerlache
Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery (; 2 August 1866 – 4 December 1934) was a Belgian officer in the Belgian Royal Navy who led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–99.
Early years
Born in Hasselt in eastern Belgium as th ...
, each of whom took expeditions to the Antarctic. Although Nansen refused to meet his own countryman and fellow-explorer
Carsten Borchgrevink
Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink (1 December 186421 April 1934) was an Anglo-Norwegian polar explorer and a pioneer of Antarctic travel. He inspired Sir Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, and others associated with the Hero ...
(whom he considered a fraud), he gave advice to
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...
on polar equipment and transport, prior to the 1901–04
''Discovery'' expedition. At one point Nansen seriously considered leading a South Pole expedition himself, and asked Colin Archer to design two ships. However, these plans remained on the drawing board.
By 1901 Nansen's family had expanded considerably. A daughter, Liv, had been born just before ''Fram'' set out; a son, Kåre was born in 1897 followed by a daughter, Irmelin, in 1900 and a second son
Odd
Odd means unpaired, occasional, strange or unusual, or a person who is viewed as eccentric.
Odd may also refer to:
Acronym
* ODD (Text Encoding Initiative) ("One Document Does it all"), an abstracted literate-programming format for describing X ...
in 1901. The family home, which Nansen had built in 1891 from the profits of his Greenland expedition book, was now too small. Nansen acquired a plot of land in the
Lysaker
Lysaker is an area in Bærum Municipality, Viken (county), Viken County, Norway. Lysaker is the easternmost part of Bærum and borders Oslo city proper, proper. Lysaker was initially a farming community, later becoming a residential area. Today ...
district and built, substantially to his own design, a large and imposing house which combined some of the characteristics of an English
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
with features from the
Italian renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
.
The house was ready for occupation by April 1902; Nansen called it ''
Polhøgda
Polhøgda is the home of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. It was originally built as the private home of Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen. The manor home’s architecture is Roman Revival, and the former estate lies between Lysaker and Fornebu in ...
'' (in English "polar heights"), and it remained his home for the rest of his life. A fifth and final child, son Asmund, was born at Polhøgda in 1903.
Politician and diplomat
The union between Norway and Sweden, imposed by the Great Powers in 1814, had been under considerable strain through the 1890s, the chief issue in question being Norway's rights to its own
consular service.
Nansen, although not by inclination a politician, had spoken out on the issue on several occasions in defence of Norway's interests. As of 1898 Nansen was among the contributors of ''
Ringeren'', an anti-Union magazine established by
Sigurd Ibsen. It seemed, early in the 20th century that agreement between the two countries might be possible, but hopes were dashed when negotiations broke down in February 1905. The Norwegian government fell, and was replaced by one led by
Christian Michelsen
Peter Christian Hersleb Kjerschow Michelsen (15 March 1857 – 29 June 1925), better known as Christian Michelsen, was a Norwegian shipping magnate and statesman. He was the first prime minister of independent Norway and Norway's 9th prime minis ...
, whose programme was one of separation from Sweden.
In February and March Nansen published a series of newspaper articles which placed him firmly in the separatist camp. The new prime minister wanted Nansen in the cabinet, but Nansen had no political ambitions. However, at Michelsen's request he went to Berlin and then to London where, in a letter to ''The Times'', he presented Norway's legal case for a separate consular service to the English-speaking world. On 17 May 1905, Norway's Constitution Day, Nansen addressed a large crowd in Christiania, saying: "Now have all ways of retreat been closed. Now remains only one path, the way forward, perhaps through difficulties and hardships, but forward for our country, to a free Norway". He also wrote a book, ''Norway and the Union with Sweden'', to promote Norway's case abroad.
On 23 May the Storting passed the Consulate Act establishing a separate consular service. King Oscar refused his assent; on 27 May the Norwegian cabinet resigned, but the king would not recognise this step. On 7 June the Storting unilaterally announced that the union with Sweden was dissolved. In a tense situation the Swedish government agreed to Norway's request that the dissolution should be put to a referendum of the Norwegian people.
This was held on 13 August 1905 and resulted in an overwhelming vote for independence, at which point King Oscar relinquished the crown of Norway while retaining the Swedish throne. A second referendum, held in November, determined that the new independent state should be a
monarchy
A monarchy is a government#Forms, form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The legitimacy (political)#monarchy, political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restric ...
rather than a republic. In anticipation of this, Michelsen's government had been considering the suitability of various princes as candidates for the Norwegian throne. Faced with King Oscar's refusal to allow anyone from his own
House of Bernadotte
The House of Bernadotte is the royal family of Sweden since its foundation there in 1818. It was also the royal family of Norway between 1818 and 1905. Its founder, Charles XIV John of Sweden, was born in Pau in southern France as Jean Bernadott ...
to accept the crown, the favoured choice was
Prince Charles of Denmark
Prince Charles of Denmark and Norway (26 October 1680 – 8 June 1729) was the fourth son of Christian V of Denmark and his consort Queen Charlotte Amalie, and thus a younger brother of King Frederick IV. He never married and had no children, no ...
. In July 1905 Michelsen sent Nansen to Copenhagen on a secret mission to persuade Charles to accept the Norwegian throne. Nansen was successful; shortly after the second referendum Charles was proclaimed king, taking the name Haakon VII. He and his wife, the British princess
Maud, were crowned in the
Nidaros Cathedral in
Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...
on 22 June 1906.
In April 1906 Nansen was appointed Norway's first
Minister in London.
[Scott, pp. 202–205] His main task was to work with representatives of the major European powers on an Integrity Treaty which would guarantee Norway's position. Nansen was popular in England, and got on well with King Edward, though he found court functions and diplomatic duties disagreeable; "frivolous and boring" was his description.
However, he was able to pursue his geographical and scientific interests through contacts with the Royal Geographical Society and other learned bodies. The Treaty was signed on 2 November 1907, and Nansen considered his task complete. Resisting the pleas of, among others, King Edward that he should remain in London, on 15 November Nansen resigned his post. A few weeks later, still in England as the king's guest at
Sandringham, Nansen received word that Eva was seriously ill with
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
. On 8 December he set out for home, but before he reached Polhøgda he learned, from a telegram, that Eva had died.
Oceanographer and traveller
![Ekman water bottle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Ekman_water_bottle.jpg)
After a period of mourning, Nansen returned to London. He had been persuaded by his government to rescind his resignation until after King Edward's state visit to Norway in April 1908. His formal retirement from the diplomatic service was dated 1 May 1908, the same day on which his university professorship was changed from zoology to oceanography. This new designation reflected the general character of Nansen's more recent scientific interests.
In 1905, he had supplied the Swedish physicist
Walfrid Ekman with the data which established the principle in oceanography known as the
Ekman spiral. Based on Nansen's observations of ocean currents recorded during the ''Fram'' expedition, Ekman concluded that the effect of wind on the sea's surface produced currents which "formed something like a spiral staircase, down towards the depths".
In 1909 Nansen combined with
Bjørn Helland-Hansen to publish an academic paper, ''The Norwegian Sea: its Physical Oceanography'', based on the ''Michael Sars'' voyage of 1900. Nansen had by now retired from polar exploration, the decisive step being his release of ''Fram'' to fellow Norwegian
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Amundsen beg ...
, who was planning a North Pole expedition. When Amundsen made his controversial change of plan and
set out for the South Pole, Nansen stood by him.
![Fridtjof Nansen detail, from- Nansen F](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Fridtjof_Nansen_detail%2C_from-_Nansen_F._-_Through_Siberia._The_Land_of_the_Future_-_1914_%28page_6_crop%29.jpg)
Between 1910 and 1914, Nansen participated in several oceanographic voyages. In 1910, aboard the Norwegian naval vessel ''Fridtjof'', he carried out researches in the northern Atlantic,
[Reynolds, pp. 179–184.] and in 1912 he took his own yacht, ''Veslemøy'', to
Bear Island and
Spitsbergen. The main objective of the ''Veslemøy'' cruise was the investigation of
salinity in the North Polar Basin.
[Reynolds, pp. 184–189.] One of Nansen's lasting contributions to oceanography was his work designing instruments and equipment; the "
Nansen bottle
A Nansen bottle is a device for obtaining samples of water at a specific depth. It was designed in 1894 by Fridtjof Nansen and further developed by Shale Niskin in 1966.
Description
The Nansen bottle (originally of brass metal) is designed fo ...
" for taking deep water samples remained in use into the 21st century, in a version updated by
Shale Niskin.
At the request of the Royal Geographical Society, Nansen began work on a study of Arctic discoveries, which developed into a two-volume history of the exploration of the northern regions up to the beginning of the 16th century. This was published in 1911 as ''Nord i Tåkeheimen'' ("In Northern Mists").
That year he renewed an acquaintance with
Kathleen Scott
Edith Agnes Kathleen Young, Baroness Kennet, FRBS (née Bruce; formerly Scott; 27 March 1878 – 25 July 1947) was a British sculptor. Trained in London and Paris, Scott was a prolific sculptor, notably of portrait heads and busts and als ...
, wife of Robert Falcon Scott, whose
''Terra Nova'' Expedition had sailed for Antarctica in 1910.
Biographer
Roland Huntford
Roland Huntford ( Horwitch;Race To The Pole: Tragedy, Heroism, and Scott's Antarctic Quest, Ranulph Fiennes, Hyperion, 2004, p. 387 born 1927) is an author, principally of biographies of Polar explorers.
Background and education
Huntford, the ...
has claimed that Nansen and Kathleen Scott had a brief affair.
Louisa Young
Louisa Young is a British novelist, songwriter, short-story writer, biographer and journalist, whose work has appeared in 32 languages. By 2023 she had published seven novels under her own name and five with her daughter, the actor Isabel Adomak ...
, in her biography of Lady Scott, rejects the claim. Many women were attracted to Nansen, and he had a reputation as a womaniser. His personal life was troubled around this time; in January 1913 he received news of the suicide of
Hjalmar Johansen
Fredrik Hjalmar Johansen (15 May 1867 – 3 January 1913) was a Norwegian polar explorer. He participated on the first and third '' Fram'' expeditions. He shipped out with the Fridtjof Nansen expedition in 1893–1896, and accompanied Nansen ...
, who had returned in disgrace from Amundsen's successful South Pole expedition. In March 1913, Nansen's youngest son Asmund died after a long illness.
In the summer of 1913, Nansen travelled to the Kara Sea, by the invitation of
Jonas Lied, as part of a delegation investigating a possible trade route between Western Europe and the Siberian interior. The party then took a steamer up the
Yenisei River
The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...
to
Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yeni ...
, and travelled on the
Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...
to
Vladivostok
Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...
before turning for home. Nansen published a report from the trip in ''Through Siberia''. The life and culture of the Russian peoples aroused in Nansen an interest and sympathy he would carry through to his later life. Immediately before the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Nansen joined Helland-Hansen in an oceanographical cruise in eastern Atlantic waters.
[Reynolds, p. 204.]
Statesman and humanitarian
League of Nations
![No-nb bldsa 5c006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/No-nb_bldsa_5c006.jpg)
On the outbreak of war in 1914, Norway declared its neutrality, alongside Sweden and Denmark. Nansen was appointed as the president of the Norwegian Union of Defence, but had few official duties, and continued with his professional work as far as circumstances permitted.
As the war progressed, the loss of Norway's overseas trade led to acute shortages of food in the country, which became critical in April 1917, when the United States entered the war and placed extra restrictions on international trade. Nansen was dispatched to Washington by the Norwegian government; after months of discussion, he secured food and other supplies in return for the introduction of a rationing system. When his government hesitated over the deal, he signed the agreement on his own initiative.
Within a few months of the war's end in November 1918, a draft agreement had been accepted by the
Paris Peace Conference to create a
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
, as a means of resolving disputes between nations by peaceful means. The foundation of the League at this time was providential as far as Nansen was concerned, giving him a new outlet for his restless energy. He became president of the Norwegian League of Nations Society, and although the Scandinavian nations with their traditions of neutrality initially held themselves aloof, his advocacy helped to ensure that Norway became a full member of the League in 1920, and he became one of its three delegates to the League's General Assembly.
In April 1920, at the League's request, Nansen began organising the repatriation of around half a million prisoners of war, stranded in various parts of the world. Of these, 300,000 were in Russia which, gripped by revolution and civil war, had little interest in their fate.
Nansen was able to report to the Assembly in November 1920 that around 200,000 men had been returned to their homes. "Never in my life", he said, "have I been brought into touch with so formidable an amount of suffering."
Nansen continued this work for a further two years until, in his final report to the Assembly in 1922, he was able to state that 427,886 prisoners had been repatriated to around 30 different countries. In paying tribute to his work, the responsible committee recorded that the story of his efforts "would contain tales of heroic endeavour worthy of those in the accounts of the crossing of Greenland and the great Arctic voyage."
Nansen Mission
The Nansen Mission is the colloquial term used by inhabitants of former
Soviet Socialist Republics
The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were national-based administrative units of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( ...
to describe the series of humanitarian initiatives undertaken by the
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
and headed by Fridtjof Nansen. This international effort included the involvement of the Swiss, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian and German branches of the Red Cross, the Swiss and Italian Children's Aids, the Seventh-day Adventist Society, as well as many other organisations.
The mobilisation effort began in August 1921 and the first programmes in Russia began soon after, with the signing of an agreement of assistance between Nansen and
Georgy Chicherin
Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin (24 November 1872 – 7 July 1936), also spelled Tchitcherin, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and a Soviet politician who served as the first People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs in the Soviet government from ...
, which provided aid to mitigate starvation in Russia and Ukraine.
Russian famine
![Fridtjof Nansen, Les deux étapes de la faim (1922) (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Fridtjof_Nansen%2C_Les_deux_%C3%A9tapes_de_la_faim_%281922%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Even before this work was complete, Nansen was involved in a further humanitarian effort. On 1 September 1921, prompted by the British delegate
Philip Noel-Baker
Philip John Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker, (1 November 1889 – 8 October 1982), born Philip John Baker, was a British politician, diplomat, academic, athlete, and renowned campaigner for disarmament. He carried the British team flag and won a ...
, he accepted the post of the League's High Commissioner for Refugees. His main brief was the resettlement of around two million Russian refugees displaced by the upheavals of the
Russian Revolution.
At the same time he tried to tackle the urgent problem of
famine in Russia; following a widespread failure of crops around 30 million people were threatened with starvation and death. Despite Nansen's pleas on behalf of the starving, Russia's revolutionary government was feared and distrusted internationally, and the League was reluctant to come to its peoples' aid. Nansen had to rely largely on fundraising from private organisations, and his efforts met with limited success.
Later he was to express himself bitterly on the matter:
![Nansenpass](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Nansenpass.jpg)
A major problem impeding Nansen's work on behalf of refugees was that most of them lacked documentary proof of identity or nationality. Without legal status in their country of refuge, their lack of papers meant they were unable to go anywhere else. To overcome this, Nansen devised a document that became known as the "
Nansen passport
Nansen passports, originally and officially stateless persons passports, were internationally recognized refugee travel documents from 1922 to 1938, first issued by the League of Nations's Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees to stateles ...
", a form of identity for
stateless persons
In international law, a stateless person is someone who is "not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law". Some stateless people are also refugees. However, not all refugees are stateless, and many people who are st ...
that was in time recognised by more than 50 governments, and which allowed refugees to cross borders legally. Although the passport was created initially for refugees from Russia, it was extended to cover other groups.
[Gibney & Harrison, pp]
441
442
While attending the
Conference of Lausanne in November 1922, Nansen learned that he had been awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
for 1922. The citation referred to "his work for the repatriation of the prisoners of war, his work for the Russian refugees, his work to bring succour to the millions of Russians afflicted by famine, and finally his present work for the refugees in Asia Minor and Thrace". Nansen donated the prize money to international relief efforts.
Greco-Turkish resettlement
After the
Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, Nansen travelled to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
to negotiate the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of refugees, mainly ethnic Greeks who had fled from Turkey after the defeat of the Greek Army. The impoverished Greek state was unable to take them in,
and so Nansen devised a scheme for a
population exchange
Population transfer or resettlement is a type of mass migration, often imposed by state policy or international authority and most frequently on the basis of ethnicity or religion but also due to economic development. Banishment or exile is a ...
whereby half a million Turks in Greece were returned to Turkey, with full financial compensation, while further loans facilitated the absorption of the refugee Greeks into their homeland. Despite some controversy over the principle of a population exchange,
the plan was implemented successfully over a period of several years.
Armenian genocide
![No-nb bldsa 6d141](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/No-nb_bldsa_6d141.jpg)
From 1925 onwards, Nansen devoted much time trying to help Armenian refugees, victims of
Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...
at the hands of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
during the First World War and further ill-treatment thereafter. His goal was the establishment of a national home for these refugees, within the borders of
Soviet Armenia
The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...
. His main assistant in this endeavour was
Vidkun Quisling
Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (, ; 18 July 1887 – 24 October 1945) was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Nazi collaborator who nominally list of heads of government of Norway, headed the government of Norway during t ...
, the future
Nazi collaborator and head of a
Norwegian puppet government during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
.
[Huntford, pp. 659–660.]
After visiting the region, Nansen presented the Assembly with a modest plan for the irrigation of on which 15,000 refugees could be settled. The plan ultimately failed, because even with Nansen's unremitting advocacy the money to finance the scheme was not forthcoming. Despite this failure, his reputation among the Armenian people remains high.
Nansen wrote ''Armenia and the Near East'' (1923) wherein he describes the plight of the Armenians in the wake of losing its independence to the Soviet Union. The book was translated into many languages. After his visit to Armenia, Nansen wrote two additional books: ''Across Armenia'' (1927) and ''Through the Caucasus to the Volga'' (1930).
Within the League's Assembly, Nansen spoke out on many issues besides those related to refugees. He believed that the Assembly gave the smaller countries such as Norway a "unique opportunity for speaking in the councils of the world." He believed that the extent of the League's success in reducing armaments would be the greatest test of its credibility. He was a signatory to the
Slavery Convention of 25 September 1926, which sought to outlaw the use of forced labour. He supported a settlement of the
post-war reparations issue and championed Germany's membership of the League, which was granted in September 1926 after intensive preparatory work by Nansen.
Later life
![Bundesarchiv Bild 102-09772, Fridjof Nansen (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-09772%2C_Fridjof_Nansen_%28cropped%29.jpg)
On 17 January 1919 Nansen married Sigrun Munthe, a long-time friend with whom he had had a love affair in 1905, while Eva was still alive. The marriage was resented by the Nansen children, and proved unhappy; an acquaintance writing of them in the 1920s said Nansen appeared unbearably miserable and Sigrun steeped in hate.
Nansen's League of Nations commitments through the 1920s meant that he was mostly absent from Norway, and was able to devote little time to scientific work. Nevertheless, he continued to publish occasional papers. He entertained the hope that he might travel to the North Pole by airship, but could not raise sufficient funding. In any event he was forestalled in this ambition by Amundsen, who flew over the pole in
Umberto Nobile
Umberto Nobile (; 21 January 1885 – 30 July 1978) was an Italian aviator, aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer.
Nobile was a developer and promoter of semi-rigid airships in the years between the two World Wars. He is primarily remembe ...
's airship ''
Norge
Norge is Norwegian (bokmål), Danish and Swedish for Norway.
It may also refer to:
People
* Kaare Norge (born 1963), Danish guitarist
* Norge Luis Vera (born 1971), Cuban baseball player
Places
* 11871 Norge, asteroid
Toponyms:
* Norge, Okl ...
'' in May 1926. Two years later Nansen broadcast a memorial oration to Amundsen, who had disappeared in the Arctic while organising a rescue party for Nobile whose airship had crashed during a second polar voyage. Nansen said of Amundsen: "He found an unknown grave under the clear sky of the icy world, with the whirring of the wings of eternity through space."
In 1926 Nansen was elected
Rector of the University of St Andrews
The Lord Rector of the University of St Andrews is the president of the University Court of the University of St Andrews; the University Court is the supreme governing body of the University.
Overview
The Rector is elected every three years by ...
in Scotland, the first foreigner to hold this largely honorary position. He used the occasion of his inaugural address to review his life and philosophy, and to deliver a call to the youth of the next generation. He ended:
We all have a Land of Beyond to seek in our life—what more can we ask? Our part is to find the trail that leads to it. A long trail, a hard trail, maybe; but the call comes to us, and we have to go. Rooted deep in the nature of every one of us is the spirit of adventure, the call of the wild—vibrating under all our actions, making life deeper and higher and nobler.
Nansen largely avoided involvement in domestic Norwegian politics, but in 1924 he was persuaded by the long-retired former Prime Minister Christian Michelsen to take part in a new anti-communist political grouping, the
Fatherland League. There were fears in Norway that should the
Marxist-oriented
Labour Party gain power it would introduce a revolutionary programme. At the inaugural rally of the League in Oslo (as Christiania had now been renamed), Nansen declared: "To talk of the right of revolution in a society with full civil liberty, universal suffrage, equal treatment for everyone ...
sidiotic nonsense."
Following continued turmoil between the centre-right parties, there was even an independent petition in 1926 gaining some momentum that proposed for Nansen to head a centre-right
national unity government
A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nat ...
on a
balanced budget program, an idea he did not reject. He was the headline speaker at the single largest Fatherland League rally with 15,000 attendees in Tønsberg in 1928. In 1929 he went on his final tour for the League on the ship ''Stella Polaris'', holding speeches from Bergen to Hammerfest.
In between his various duties and responsibilities, Nansen had continued to take skiing holidays when he could. In February 1930, aged 68, he took a short break in the mountains with two old friends, who noted that Nansen was slower than usual and appeared to tire easily. On his return to Oslo he was laid up for several months, with
influenza and later
phlebitis
Phlebitis (or Venitis) is inflammation of a vein, usually in the legs. It most commonly occurs in superficial veins. Phlebitis often occurs in conjunction with thrombosis and is then called thrombophlebitis or superficial thrombophlebitis. Unlike ...
, and was visited on his sickbed by
King Haakon VII
Haakon VII (; born Prince Carl of Denmark; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was the King of Norway from November 1905 until his death in September 1957.
Originally a Danish prince, he was born in Copenhagen as the son of the future Frederick VI ...
.
Nansen was a close friend of a clergyman named Wilhelm. Nansen himself was an
atheist.
Death and legacy
![MountFridtjofNansenAntarctica](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/MountFridtjofNansenAntarctica.jpg)
Nansen died of a heart attack on 13 May 1930. He was given a non-religious
state funeral before cremation, after which his ashes were laid under a tree at Polhøgda. Nansen's daughter Liv recorded that there were no speeches, just music:
Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
's ''
Death and the Maiden'', which Eva used to sing.
In his lifetime and thereafter, Nansen received honours and recognition from many countries. Among the many tributes paid to him subsequently was that of
Lord Robert Cecil, a fellow League of Nations delegate, who spoke of the range of Nansen's work, done with no regard for his own interests or health: "Every good cause had his support. He was a fearless peacemaker, a friend of justice, an advocate always for the weak and suffering."
Nansen was a pioneer and innovator in many fields. As a young man he embraced the revolution in skiing methods that transformed it from a means of winter travel to a universal sport, and quickly became one of Norway's leading skiers. He was later able to apply this expertise to the problems of polar travel, in both his Greenland and his ''Fram'' expeditions.
He invented the "Nansen sledge" with broad, ski-like runners, the "Nansen cooker" to improve the heat efficiency of the standard spirit stoves then in use, and the layer principle in polar clothing, whereby the traditionally heavy, awkward garments were replaced by layers of lightweight material. In science, Nansen is recognised both as one of the founders of modern
neurology
Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...
, and as a significant contributor to early oceanographical science, in particular for his work in establishing the Central Oceanographic Laboratory in Christiania.
Through his work on behalf of the League of Nations, Nansen helped to establish the principle of international responsibility for refugees. Immediately after his death the League set up the
Nansen International Office for Refugees
The Nansen International Office for Refugees (''french: Office International Nansen pour les Réfugiés'') was an organization established in 1930 by the League of Nations and named after Fridtjof Nansen, soon after his death, which was internati ...
, a semi-autonomous body under the League's authority, to continue his work. The Nansen Office faced great difficulties, in part arising from the large numbers of refugees from the European dictatorships during the 1930s.
Nevertheless, it secured the agreement of 14 countries (including a reluctant Great Britain) to the Refugee Convention of 1933.
It also helped to repatriate 10,000 Armenians to
Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...
in
Soviet Armenia
The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...
, and to find homes for a further 40,000 in Syria and Lebanon. In 1938, the year in which it was superseded by a wider-ranging body, the Nansen Office was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1954, the League's successor body, the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
, established the
Nansen Medal, later named the
Nansen Refugee Award
The Nansen Refugee Award is awarded annually by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to an individual, group, or organization in recognition of outstanding service to the cause of refugees, displaced, or stateless people. Th ...
, given annually by the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...
to an individual, group or organisation "for outstanding work on behalf of the forcibly displaced".
Numerous geographical features bear his name: the
Nansen Basin and the
Nansen-Gakkel Ridge
The Gakkel Ridge (formerly known as the Nansen Cordillera and Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge) is a mid-oceanic ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary between the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is located in the Eurasian Basin of the ...
in the Arctic Ocean;
Mount Nansen in the Yukon region of Canada;
Mount Nansen,
Mount Fridtjof Nansen
Mount Fridtjof Nansen is a high massive mountain which dominates the area between the heads of Strom and Axel Heiberg Glaciers, in the Queen Maud Mountains of Antarctica. Discovered by Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen ...
and
Nansen Island, all in Antarctica; as well as
Nansen Island in the
Kara Sea
The Kara Sea (russian: Ка́рское мо́ре, ''Karskoye more'') is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. ...
,
Nansen Land
Nansen Land is a peninsula in far northwestern Greenland. It is a part of the Northeast Greenland National Park.
The Arctic wolf is present in the peninsula. The northern shore facing the Lincoln sea slopes evenly and is fertile for the area, b ...
in Greenland and
Nansen Island in
Franz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land, Frantz Iosef Land, Franz Joseph Land or Francis Joseph's Land ( rus, Земля́ Фра́нца-Ио́сифа, r=Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa, no, Fridtjof Nansen Land) is a Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. It is inhabited on ...
;
853 Nansenia
853 Nansenia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It is named after the Norwegian polar explorer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 186113 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel ...
, an asteroid;
Nansen crater at the Moon's north pole and
Nansen crater on Mars. His
Polhøgda
Polhøgda is the home of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. It was originally built as the private home of Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen. The manor home’s architecture is Roman Revival, and the former estate lies between Lysaker and Fornebu in ...
mansion is now home to the
Fridtjof Nansen Institute
The Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) is an independent research foundation specializing in research on international environmental, energy and resource management issues, including political and legal aspects.
The institute is named after the Nor ...
, an independent foundation which engages in research on environmental, energy and resource management politics.
A 1968 Norwegian/Soviet biographical film ''
Just a Life: the Story of Fridtjof Nansen'' was released with
Knut Wigert
Knut Kirsebom Wigert (3 October 1916 – 14 June 2006) was a Norwegian actor, known for his many Ibsen roles and the establishment of an Ibsen museum in Oslo.
Personal life
Knut Hansen was born in Skien as a son of Major Sigvald Hansen (188 ...
as Nansen.
The
Royal Norwegian Navy
The Royal Norwegian Navy ( no, Sjøforsvaret, , Sea defence) is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for naval operations of Norway. , the Royal Norwegian Navy consists of approximately 3,700 personnel (9,450 in mobilized state, ...
launched the first of a series of five s in 2004, with as its lead ship. Cruise ship was launched in 2020.
Orders and decorations
Works
* ''Paa ski over Grønland. En skildring af Den norske Grønlands-ekspedition 1888–89''. Aschehoug, Kristiania 1890. Tr. a
''The First Crossing of Greenland'' 1890.
* ''Eskimoliv''. Aschehoug, Kristiania 1891. Tr. a
''Eskimo Life'' (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1893).
* ''Fram over Polhavet. Den norske polarfærd 1893–1896.'' Aschehoug, Kristiania 1897. Tr. a
''Farthest North'' 1897.
''The Norwegian North Polar Expedition, 1893–1896; Scientific Results''(6 volumes, 1901).
* ''Norge og foreningen med Sverige''. Jacob Dybwads Forlag, Kristiania 1905. Tr. a
''Norway and the Union With Sweden'' 1905.
''Northern Waters: Captain Roald Amundsen's Oceanographic Observations in the Arctic Seas in 1901.''Jacob Dybwads Forlag, Kristiania, 1906.
* ''Nord i tåkeheimen. Utforskningen av jordens nordlige strøk i tidlige tider''. Jacob Dybwads Forlag, Kristiania 1911. Tr. a
''In Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early Times'' 1911.
* ''Gjennem Sibirien''. Jacob Dybwads forlag, Kristiania, 1914. Tr. a
''Through Siberia the Land of the Future'' 1914.
* ''Frilufts-liv''. Jacob Dybwads Forlag, Kristiania, 1916.
* ''En ferd til Spitsbergen''. Jacob Dybwads Forlag, Kristiania, 1920.
* ''Rusland og freden''. Jacob Dybwads Forlag, Kristiania, 1923.
* ''Blant sel og bjørn. Min første Ishavs-ferd''. Jacob Dybwads Forlag, Kristiania, 1924.
* ''Gjennem Armenia''. Jacob Dybwads Forlag, Oslo, 1927.
* ''Gjennem Kaukasus til Volga''. Jacob Dybwads Forlag, Oslo, 1929. Tr. a
''Through The Caucasus To The Volga'' 1931.
;English translations
*
* ''Armenia and the Near East.'' Publisher: J.C. & A.L. Fawcett, Inc., New York, 1928.
.
See also
*
Arctic exploration
Arctic exploration is the physical exploration of the Arctic region of the Earth. It refers to the historical period during which mankind has explored the region north of the Arctic Circle. Historical records suggest that humankind have explored ...
*
List of polar explorers
This list is for recognised pioneering explorers of the polar regions. It does not include subsequent travelers and expeditions.
Polar explorers
* Jameson Adams
* Stian Aker
* Valerian Albanov
* Roald Amundsen
* Salomon August Andrée
* Piotr ...
*
Nansen Ski Club
*
Nansen Ski Jump
Notes
References
Inline citations
Sources referenced
*
*
*
*
Brøgger, Waldemar Christofer and
Rolfsen, Nordahl (translated by
William Archer William or Bill Archer may refer to:
* William Archer (British politician) (1677–1739), British politician
* William S. Archer (1789–1855), U.S. Senator and Representative from Virginia
* William Beatty Archer (1793–1870), Illinois politician ...
(1896))
''Fridtiof Nansen 1861–1893'' New York. Longmans Green & Co.
*
*
* (First published in 1997 by Gerald Duckworth)
*
*
*
*
* (in Norwegian)
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Jones, Max (1 March 2021).
Exploration, Celebrity, and the Making of a Transnational Hero: Fridtjof Nansen and the Fram Expedition. ''The Journal of Modern History''. 93 (1): 68–108.
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
Portrait of Fridtjof Nansenpublished on ICRC Library and Archives blo
CROSS-files
*
Fridtjof Nansen Collectionat Dartmouth College Library
* including the Nobel Lecture. 19 December 1922 ''The Suffering People of Europe''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nansen, Fridtjof
1861 births
1930 deaths
People from Bærum
Explorers from Oslo
19th-century Norwegian zoologists
20th-century Norwegian zoologists
Ambassadors of Norway to the United Kingdom
Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur
Explorers of the Arctic
Fatherland League (Norway)
Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
League of Nations people
Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Nobel Peace Prize laureates
Norwegian atheists
Norwegian geomorphologists
Norwegian Nobel laureates
Norwegian people of Danish descent
Norwegian polar explorers
Norwegian politicians
Recipients of the Cullum Geographical Medal
Recipients of the Medal of Merit (Denmark)
Rectors of the University of St Andrews
University of Oslo faculty
Rectors of universities and colleges in Norway
Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters
Grand Crosses of the Order of Franz Joseph
Grand Officers of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
Recipients of the Order of the Crown (Italy)
Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog
Scientists from Oslo
Diplomats from Oslo