The New Student's Reference Work/Nansen, Fridtjof

Nan'sen, Fridtof (frēt' yof nän' sĕn), a Norwegian Arctic explorer, was born near Christiana, Norway, Oct 10, 1861. When 21, he became curator of the zoological department of the museum at Bergen and devoted himself to its improvement. In a number of exploring expeditions he showed such fertility of resource and such physical endurance that he was given larger fields of operation. In 1882 he explored the seas about Greenland. In 1888–89 he crossed Greenland, passing over its icecap from east to west, and returned safe, contrary to the predictions of his critics. With his thoughts still on the problems of the polar seas he designed a boat in 1892 to withstand the effects of any ice-jam; and in this vessel, the Fram, he set out from Vardö, Norway, in 1893, intending to reach the pole by sailing east until the right opportunity should offer for permitting his boat to be frozen into the ice pack. It was his belief that the pack itself would drift him across the polar sea. His surmises were in part correct. He attained the highest latitude north, but not within many leagues of the pole. He was not heard of again until Aug. 13, 1896, when his safe return was announced. His farthest north was about three degrees farther north (86° 14' N.) than the point attained by the Alert in 1876. His published works are Across Greenland, Eskimo Life and Farthest North. He lectured in the United States after his return from the polar expedition of 1893–96, upon which his chief distinction rests. Of late years he has been professor of zoology at Christiania University, and recently has acted as Norwegian ambassador to England.