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NANSEN, FRIDTJOF (1861– )

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 163 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NANSEN, FRIDTJOF (1861– ) , See also:Norwegian scientist, explorer and statesman, was See also:born at Froen near See also:Christiania on the loth of See also:October 1861. His childhood was spent at this See also:place till his fifteenth See also:year, when his parents removed to Christiania, where he went to school. He entered Christiania university in 188o, where he made a See also:special study of See also:zoology; in See also:March 1882 he joined the sealing-See also:ship " See also:Viking " for a voyage to See also:Greenland See also:waters. On his return in the same year he was appointed See also:curator of the See also:Bergen Museum, under the eminent physician and zoologist See also:Daniel See also:Cornelius Danielssen (1815–1894). In 1886 he spent a See also:short See also:time at the zoological station at See also:Naples. During this time he wrote several papers and See also:memoirs on zoological and histological subjects, and for one See also:paper on " The Structure and See also:Combination of the Histological Elements of the Central See also:Nervous See also:System " (Bergen, 1887) the Christiania university conferred upon him the degree of See also:doctor of See also:philosophy. But his voyage in the " Viking " had indicated Greenland as a possible See also:field for exploration, and in 1887 he set about preparations for a See also:crossing of the See also:great See also:ice-field which covers the interior of that See also:country. The possibility of his success was discountenanced by many See also:Arctic authorities, and a small See also:grant he had asked for was refused by the Norwegian See also:government, but was provided by Augustin See also:Game], a See also:merchant of See also:Copenhagen, while he paid from his private means the greater See also:part of the expenses of the expedition. As companions Nansen had See also:Otto See also:Neumann See also:Sverdrup (b. 1855), See also:Captain O. C. Dietrichson (b.

1856), a third compatriot, and two Lapps. The expedition started in May 1888, proceeding from See also:

Leith to See also:Iceland, and there joining a sealing-ship See also:bound for the See also:east See also:coast of Greenland. On the 17th of See also:July Nansen decided to leave the ship and force a way through the ice-See also:belt to the See also:land, about to m. distant, but the party encountered great difficulties owing to ice-pressures, went adrift with the ice, and only reached the land on the 19th, having been carried far to the See also:south in the See also:interval. They made their way See also:north again, along the coast inside the See also:drift ice, and on the 16th of See also:August began the ascent of the inland ice. Suffering severely from storms, intense See also:cold, and other hardships, they reached the highest point of the See also:journey (8920 ft.) on the 5th of See also:September, and at the end of the See also:month struck the See also:west coast at the Ameralik See also:Fjord. On reaching the See also:settlement of Godthaab it was found that the party must See also:winter there, and Nansen used the opportunity to study the Eskimos and gather material for his See also:book, See also:Eskimo See also:Life (See also:English See also:translation, See also:London, 1893). The party returned See also:home in May 1889, and Nansen's book, The First Crossing of Greenland (English translation, London, 1890), demonstrates the valuable scientific results of the journey. A See also:report of the scientific results was published in Petermanns Mitteilungen (See also:Gotha, 1892). On his return from Greenland Nansen accepted the curatorship of the Zootomic Museum of Christiania university. In September 1889 he married Eva, daughter of See also:Professor See also:Michael Sars of Christiania university, and a noted See also:singer (d. 1907). In 1890 he propounded his See also:scheme for a polar expedition before the Norwegian See also:Geographical Society, and in 1892 he laid it before the Royal Geographical Society in London (see " How can the North Polar Region be crossed ?" Geogr.

See also:

Journal, vol. i.), by which time his preparations were well advanced. His theory, that a drift-current sets across the polar regions from See also:Bering Strait and the neighbourhood of the New See also:Siberia Islands towards the east coast of Greenland, was based on a number of indications, notably the See also:discovery (1884), on drift ice off the south-west coast of Greenland, of See also:relics of the See also:American north polar expedition in the ship " See also:Jeannette," which sank N.E. of the New Siberia Islands in 1881. His intention was therefore to get his See also:vessel fixed in the ice to the north of Eastern Siberia and let her drift with it. His See also:plan was adversely criticized by many Arctic authorities, but it succeeded. The Norwegian See also:parliament granted two-thirds of the expenses,and the See also:rest was obtained by subscription from See also:King Oscar and private individuals. His ship, the " Fram " (i.e. " Forward "), was specially built of immense strength and See also:peculiar See also:form, being pointed at See also:bow and stern and having sloping sides, so that the ice-floes, pressing together, should tend, not to crush, but merely to slip beneath and lift her. She sailed from Christiania on the 24th of See also:June 1893. Otto Sverdrup was See also:master; See also:Sigurd See also:Scott See also:Hansen, a Norwegian See also:naval See also:lieutenant, was in See also:charge of the astronomical and meteorological observations; Henrik Greve Blessing was doctor and botanist; and among the rest was Frederik Hjalmar Johansen, lieutenant in the Norwegian See also:army, who shipped as fireman. On the 22nd of September the "Fram " was made fast to a See also:floe in 78° 50' N.; 133° 37' E.; shortly afterwards she was frozen in, and the See also:long drift began. She See also:bore the pressure of the ice perfectly. During the winter of 1894-1895 it was decided that an expedition should be made northward over the ice on See also:foot in the See also:spring, and on the 14th, of March 1895 Nansen, being satisfied that the " Frain" would continue to drift safely, See also:left her in 84° N., 101° 55' E., and started northward accompanied by Johansen.

On the 8th of See also:

April they turned back from 86° 14' N., the highest See also:latitude then reached by See also:man; and they shaped their course for See also:Franz Josef Land. They suffered many hardships, including shortage of See also:food, and were compelled to winter on See also:Frederick See also:Jackson See also:Island (so named by Nansen) in Franz Josef Land from the 26th of August 1895 to the 19th of May 1896. They were uncertain as to the locality, but, after having reached 8o° N. on the south coast of the islands, they were travelling westward to reach See also:Spitsbergen, when, on the 17th of June 1896, they See also:fell in with Frederick Jackson andhis party of the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition, and returned to See also:Norway in his ship, the " Windward," reaching Vardo on the 13th of August. A See also:week later the " Fram " also reached Norway in safety. She had drifted north after Nansen had left her, to 85° 57', and had ultimately returned by the west coast of Spitsbergen. An unprecedented welcome awaited Nansen. In See also:England he gave the narrative of his journey at a great See also:meeting in the See also:Albert See also:Hall, London, on the 8th of See also:February 1897, and elsewhere. He received a special See also:medal from the Royal Geographical Society, honorary degrees from the See also:universities of See also:Oxford and See also:Cambridge, and a presentation of books (the " Challenger " Reports) from the See also:British government, and similar honours were paid him in other countries. The English version of the narrative of the expedition is entitled Farthest North (London, 1897), and the scientific results are given in The Norwegian North Polar Expedition 1893-1896; Scientific Results (London, &c., 1900 sqq.). In 1905, in connexion with the crisis between Norway and See also:Sweden, which was followed by the separation of the kingdoms, Nansen for the first time actively intervened in politics. He issued a manifesto and many articles, in which he adopted an attitude briefly indicated by the last words of a short See also:work published later in the year: " Any See also:union in which the one See also:people is restrained in exercising its freedom is and will remain a danger " (Norway and the Union with Sweden, London, 1905). On the See also:establishment of the Norwegian See also:monarchy Nansen was appointed See also:minister to England (1906), and in the same year he was created G.C.V.O.; but in 1908 he retired from his See also:post, and became professor of oceanography in Christiania university.

End of Article: NANSEN, FRIDTJOF (1861– )

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