1872-1928

Norwegian Explorer

As an Arctic and Antarctic explorer, Roald Amundsen accumulated a number of titles. After he became the first human to sail through the Northwest Passage, he struck out for the never-before-reached South Pole, narrowly edging out the British team of Robert F. Scott (1868-1912), which arrived a month later. Afterward, Amundsen went on to become the second person to sail the Northeast Passage, and the first to reach the North Pole by dirigible.

Amundsen was born in Borge near Oslo, Norway, in 1872. When he was a teenager, the young man took an interest in Arctic exploration. Despite his enthusiasm for the far north, he trained to become a doctor, the wish of his recently widowed mother. Seven years after his father's death, his mother also died, and Amundsen pursued his dream of becoming an explorer.

He believed that the best route to success...