Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (born October 10, 1861 on the estate Store Frøen, near Christiania - died May 13, 1930 in Lysaker, outside Oslo) was a Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat. Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his work as a League of Nations High Commissioner.

Arctic exploration

Nansen made his first voyage to Greenland waters in a sealing ship in 1882, and in 1888 succeeded in crossing the Greenland icefield on skis from east to west with Otto Sverdrup, Olaf Dietrichson, Kristian Kristiansen Trana, Samuel Balto and Ole Nielsen Ravna. In 1893, he sailed to the Arctic in the Fram (a purpose-built, round-hulled ship later used by Roald Amundsen to transport his expedition to Antarctica) which was deliberately allowed to drift north through the sea ice, a journey that took more than three years. During this first crossing of the Arctic Ocean the expedition became the first to discover the existence of a deep polar basin.

When, after more than one year in the ice it became apparent that Fram would not reach the North Pole, Nansen, accompanied by Hjalmar Johansen (1867–1913), continued north on foot when the Fram reached 84° 4´ N. This was a daring decision, as it meant leaving the ship not to return, and a return journey over drifting ice to the nearest known land some five hundred miles south of the point where they started. Nansen and Johansen started north on March 14, 1895 with three sledges, two kayaks and twenty-eight dogs. On April 8, 1895, they reached 86° 14´ N, the highest latitude then attained. The two men then turned around and started back, and did not find the land they expected at 83°N (it did not exist). In June 1895 they had to use their kayaks to cross open leads of water, and on July 24, they came across a series of islands. Here they built a hut of moss, stones, and snow, and wintered, surviving on walrus blubber and polar bear meat. In May of the following year (1896), they started off again for Spitsbergen. After travelling for a month, not knowing where they were, they happened upon the British Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition (led by Frederick George Jackson) whose party were wintering on the island. Jackson informed them that they were in fact on Franz Josef Land. Finally, Nansen and Johansen made it back to Vardø in the north of Norway.^[1]

Map of the Fram voyage and Nansen's journey at the Fram Museum (Frammuseet)

He was the first to note and describe dead water.

Academic career and scientific works

Nansen was a professor of zoology and later oceanography at the Royal Frederick University in Oslo and contributed with groundbreaking works in the fields of neurology and fluid dynamics.

Nansen was one of the founders of the neuron theory stating that the neural network consists of individual cells communicating with each other.

Nansen did extensive research into the behavior and origin of ocean currents, following his experiences from the Fram expedition. He was, together with the Swedish mathematician V. Walfrid Ekman, deeply involved in the discovery of how currents are generated from the planetary rotation and the formulation of the theory of the Ekman spiral that explains the phenomenon. He also invented a bottle for collection of water samples from various depths known as the Nansen bottle that, further developed by Shale Niskin, is still in use.

Diplomatic and political career

Before Norway's dissolution of its union with Sweden on 7 June 1905, Nansen had been a devoted republican, along with other prominent Norwegians like the authors Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Arne Garborg. However, after convincing argument by Sigurd Ibsen and others, Nansen changed his position (as did Bjørnson and Garborg) and was thereafter influential in convincing Prince Carl of Denmark that he should accept the position as king of Norway. In a referendum where the Norwegian electorate chose between a monarchy and a republic, Nansen campaigned for monarchy, certain it was the right thing for Norway, although the general view was that Nansen would be elected President if Norwegians chose republican rule. Carl was crowned as King Haakon VII after the referendum results indicated Norwegians' strong preference for monarchy.

Following Norway's independence, Nansen was appointed as the Norwegian ambassador in London (1906-08) becoming a close friend of King Edward and assuring support from Britain in the campaign for an international guarantee of Norwegian territorial integrity.

In the period between the wars there was an unsuccessful effort on Nansen's behalf to make him the Prime Minister in a broad government based on all the non-socialist parties to counter the growth of Arbeiderpartiet, the Norwegian labour party. In 1925 he co-founded Fedrelandslaget (The Fatherland Society), an anti-socialist political organisation that folded at the outbreak of the Second World War.

The League of Nations

After World War I, Nansen became involved in the League of Nations as a High Commissioner for several initiatives, including organisation of exchange of war prisoners and help to Russian refugees, in which campaign he originated the Nansen passport for refugees. He was aided by Vidkun Quisling in his work to help the Russian peasants. In 1917 and 1918 Nansen was in Washington D.C, he convinced the allies to allow essential food supplies to be brought through their blockade. In 1920 the League of Nations asked Nansen to send home many prisoners of war, most being in Russia. With limited funds Nansen sent home 450,000 within a year and a half. In 1921 Nansen was asked by the League of Nations to administer the newly formed High Commission for Refugees. Nansen created the “Nansen passport” for refugees, it eventually became recognised by fifty-two governments. Red Cross then asked him in 1921 to organise a relief program for the millions of Russians dying in the Russian Famine of 1921-1922. The West was suspicious that the Russian famine was created by government mismanagement of the economy and it was hard to gain funding, but still Nansen found enough supplies for between 7,000,000 and 22,000,000. For the next few years Nansen did some more humanitarian work, and in 1922 won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was involved in the negotiations between the Greek and Turkish governments that lead to the Treaty of Lausanne.^[2] In the latter half of the 1920s he worked to solve the crisis involving the Armenians in Turkey.^[3]

In 1896 he was awarded the Grand Cross of The Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and in 1925 he received the Collar as well.

Posthumous honors

Fridtjof Nansen has had many honors awarded posthumously among which are:

• The Nansen Refugee Award formerly known as the Nansen Medal has (since 1955) been given out yearly to a person or group for outstanding services in supporting refugee causes by the UNHCR.
• The Nansen International Office for Refugees, that existed from 1931 to 1939 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1938, was named after Nansen and was created to continue his work as a High Commissioner.
• The Royal Norwegian Navy has named several ships after Nansen, beginning with Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen in 1930, and today the Fridtjof Nansen class of frigates, and the lead ship, HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen is named after him.
• The Norwegian Humanist Academy, Nansenskolen is named after Fridtjof Nansen.
• A crater on the Moon and another on Mars are named Nansen.
• The asteroid 853 Nansenia is named after Fridtjof Nansen.
• The Nansen Institute is named after Nansen, and is located in his old home.
• A school house at the Anglican Church Grammar School is named after him.
• The European Geophysical Society has since 1996 awarded a Fridtjof Nansen Medal for distinguished research in Oceanography.^[4]
• The Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, a non-profit research institute affiliated with the University of Bergen, is named in his honour.^[5]
• The Nansen Programme is a Norwegian programme supporting developing countries in fisheries research and management. Its research vessel is named Dr. Fridtjof Nansen.^[6]
• Several geographical features in differents parts of the world are named after Nansen.
• Natural features
• Mount Nansen, Antarctica
• Mount Nansen, Kyrgizstan
• Streets
• Fridtjof Nansens gate (street), Hamar, Norway
• Nansens gate (street), Kongsberg, Norway^[7]
• Fridtjof Nansen Street, Kosovo^[8]
• Fridtjof Nansens gate (street), Namsos, Norway
• Fridjof Nansens plass (square), Oslo, Norway^[9]
• Fridtjof Nansen plass (square), Tromsø, Norway
• Nansen Street, Salford, United Kingdom
• Fridtjof Nansen Street, Sofia, Bulgaria
• Nansen Lodge, Staten Island, New York, U.S.
• Nansen Ave., Poole, Dorset, England
• Nansenstraat, Gouda, The Netherlands
• Nansen walk, Corby, England
• Nansen Ct. New City Park, New York, U.S.

References

See also

• Roald Amundsen
• Franz Josef Land
• Valerian Albanov

Further reading

by Nansen

• Nansen, F. (1999). Farthest North. New York: Modern Library. (English translation of Nansen's own account of the Fram journey.)
• Nansen, Fridtjof (1911). In Northern Mists. Arctic Exploration in Early Times . London: Heinemann. 2 vols.
• Nansen, Fridtjof (1895). The First Crossing of Greenland.Longmans Green.

by others

• Huntford, Roland. (1997). Nansen. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co.
• Noel-Baker, Philip (1962). Nansen's Place in History. Oslo: Universitetsförlaget.  (26pp pamphlet)

External links

• Nobel Prize biography
• Nansen page w/pictures
• Fridtjof Nansen
• Nobel Peace Prize laureate Fridtjof Nansen
• The Fram Museum (Frammuseet)
• Fridtjof Nansen Picture Database

Academic offices
Preceded by Rudyard Kipling	Rector of the University of St Andrews 1925 - 1928	Succeeded by Sir Wilfred Grenfell

•  • [ e] Nobel Peace Prize Laureates
Henry Dunant / Frdric Passy (1901) • lie Ducommun / Charles Gobat (1902) • William Cremer (1903) • Institut de Droit International (1904) • Bertha von Suttner (1905) • Theodore Roosevelt (1906) • Ernesto Moneta / Louis Renault (1907) • Klas Arnoldson / Fredrik Bajer (1908) • A.M.F. Beernaert / Paul Estournelles de Constant (1909) • International Peace Bureau (1910) • Tobias Asser / Alfred Fried (1911) • Elihu Root (1912) • Henri La Fontaine (1913) • International Red Cross and Red Crescent (1917) • Woodrow Wilson (1919) • Lon Bourgeois (1920) • Hjalmar Branting / Christian Lange (1921) • Fridtjof Nansen (1922) • Austen Chamberlain / Charles Dawes (1925)