Born November 18, 1832, Helsinki, Finland
Died August 12, 1901, Stockholm, Sweden

Beginning in the sixteenth century, northern Europeans led expeditions to find new water routes to India and China, for existing routes to the Orient were controlled by the powerful maritime nations of Spain and Portugal. Most exploratory efforts were spent looking for a northwest passage, sailing between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans over North America. However, English, Dutch, and Russian explorers did try to find a northeast passage between the oceans, along the northern coast of Eurasia. While a number of them explored various parts of the passage (and some, like Dutchman Willem Barents, lost their lives in the process), no one traveled its full length until 1878–79, when Swedish scientist Nils A. E. Nordenskjöld made the year-long voyage in his converted whaling ship, the Vega. Russia...