Theodor Lerner (10 April 1866 – 12 May 1931) was a German journalist and polar explorer who conducted several expeditions to

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

. In 1897 he witnessed the start of

S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet. S may also refer to: History * an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics * Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where "s ...

and took part in the search for

Andrée Andrée or Andree may refer to: People * Andrée (given name) * Andree (surname) Places * Andree, Minnesota, unincorporated community in Stanchfield Township, Isanti County, Minnesota * 1296 Andrée, asteroid * Andrée Land (Svalbard) * Andrée La ...

in 1898 during a journey with Friedrich Römer and

Fritz Schaudinn Fritz Richard Schaudinn (19 September 1871 – 22 June 1906) was a German zoologist. Born in Röseningken, East Prussia, he co-discovered, with Erich Hoffmann in 1905, the causative agent of syphilis, ''Spirochaeta pallida'' (also known as ''Trep ...

. He visited Bjørnøya in 1898 and 1899, exploring the viability of coal mining and eventually claiming ownership of the island as a territory of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. This enterprise proved unsuccessful but raised some publicity, earning him the nickname "Nebelfürst" ("prince of the mists"). In 1908 after overwintering the

polar night The polar night is a phenomenon where the nighttime lasts for more than 24 hours that occurs in the northernmost and southernmost regions of Earth. This occurs only inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, the polar day, or midnig ...

with

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 to ...

in a cabin at Cape Boheman on

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...

, he and Johansen travelled over the inland ice to Spitsbergen's northwest coast.

Legacy

The headland Lernerneset of

Abel Island Abel Island ( no, Abeløya) is an island in Svalbard. It is the third-largest island of Kong Karls Land with an area of . It is named after the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel. Abel Island is separated from Kongsøya by the strait Lydiann ...

Kong Karls Land Kong Karls Land or King Charles Land is an island group in the Svalbard archipelago, in the Arctic Ocean. The island group covers an area of and is made up of the islands of Kongsøya, Svenskøya, Abel Island, Helgoland Island, and Tirpitzøya. ...

, is named after him.

In popular culture

Lerner's history is the basis for the 2001 German novel ''Der Nebelfürst'' by

Martin Mosebach Martin Mosebach (born 31 July 1951, in Frankfurt am Main) is a German writer. Biography He has published novels, stories, and collections of poems, written scripts for several films, opera libretti, theatre and radio plays. His first major non- ...

References

1866 births 1931 deaths German journalists German male journalists Explorers of the Arctic Burials at Frankfurt Main Cemetery German male writers {{Germany-writer-stub