Born November 3, 1819, Arnes, Manitoba, Canada
Died August 26, 1962, Hanover, New Hampshire

Canadian anthropologist Vilhjalmur Stefansson was not the usual Arctic explorer. He loved the polar environment and studied Inuit (Eskimo) ways so that he could live harmoniously with the land. He advised that other explorers to the region do the same, instead of bringing in supplies in an attempt to make the Arctic more like the places from which they’d come. Stefansson felt sure that the polar region was not just a wasteland, but harbored great economic potential. His ideas would eventually prove true, with the discoveries of mineral wealth, natural gas, and oil there later in the twentieth century.

Stefansson was born in Arnes, Manitoba, on November 3, 1879, the son of Icelandic emigrants. When he was two they moved to the United States, settling in North Dakota. He attended the University of North Dakota for...