The Norwegian polar explorer, scientist, and statesman Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) was a pioneer of oceanography and achieved world stature as a vital force in the League of Nations.

Fridtjof Nansen was born on Oct. 10, 1861, on an estate near Christiania (Oslo), the son of Baldur Nansen, a lawyer, and Adelaide Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen. In 1880 Nansen entered Christiania University. A promising student of zoology, he was encouraged to do research aboard an Arctic sealer, and in 1882 he sailed for Greenland waters, where his first interest in the Arctic was probably awakened. Returning to Norway, he became curator of the zoological collection at the Bergen Museum and continued his research there and in Italy. In 1888 Nansen received his doctorate in zoology from Christiania University.

Explorer and Scientist

As early as 1884 Nansen conceived the idea of crossing Greenland on skis from the rugged, uninhabited east coast to the west, but it was not...