Norwegian explorer, oceanographer, statesman, and humanitarian who led
a number of expeditions to the Arctic (1888, 1893, 1895-96) and oceanographic
expeditions in the North Atlantic (1900, 1910-14). For his relief work
after World War I he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace (1922).
Nansen went to school in Kristiania, where, in 1880, he passed his entrance
examination to the university. He chose to study zoology in the expectation
that fieldwork would give him the chance of an outdoor life and enable
him to make use of his artistic talents. Although scientific work was
always closest to his heart, he first attained fame as an explorer.
As a young man Nansen was a great outdoor athlete, an accomplished skater
and skier, and a keen hunter and fisherman. In 1882, when he joined
the sealing ship Viking for a voyage to the Greenland waters, Nansen
first saw at a distance Greenland's mighty ice cap. It occurred to him
that it ought to be possible to cross it, and gradually he developed
a plan, which he announced in 1887. Instead of starting from the inhabited
west coast, he would start from the east coast and, by cutting off his
means of retreat, would force himself to go forward. The expedition
of six from Norway started the crossing on Aug. 15, 1888. After enduring
storms and intense cold, they reached the highest point of the journey
(8,920 feet [2,719 m]) on September 5 and struck the west coast at Ameralik
fjord on September 26. They were forced to winter at the settlement
of Godthab (Nuuk), where Nansen took the opportunity to study the Eskimos
and gather material for his book Eskimoliv (1891; Eskimo Life). The
party returned home in triumph in May 1889.
In 1890 Nansen presented before the Norwegian Geographical Society
a plan for an even more hazardous expedition. Having collected evidence
showing that the ice of the polar sea drifted from Siberia toward Spitsbergen,
he proposed to build a ship of such a shape that it would be lifted
but not crushed when caught by the ice. He proposed to let this ship
freeze in off eastern Siberia in order to be carried from there across
the Arctic Ocean to Spitsbergen by the currents. Though his plan was
severely criticized by contemporary Arctic explorers, the Norwegian
Parliament granted two-thirds of the estimated expenses, and the rest
was raised by subscriptions from King Oscar II and private individuals.
His ship, Fram (i.e., "Forward"; now preserved outside Oslo),
was built according to his ideas.
With a complement of 13 men, the Fram sailed from Kristiania on June
24, 1893. On September 22 it was enclosed by the ice at 7850' N, 133
37' E; it froze in, and the long drift began. It bore the pressure of
the ice perfectly. On March 14, 1895, Nansen, being satisfied that the
Fram would continue to drift safely, left it in 844' N, 102 27' E, and
started northward with dogsleds and kayaks, accompanied by F.H. Johansen.
On April 8 they turned back from 86 14' N, the highest latitude then
yet reached by man, and headed toward Franz Josef Land. As they approached
the northern islands, progress was hampered by open water and, because
of the advanced season, they wintered on Frederick Jackson Island (named
by Nansen after the British Arctic explorer), where they stayed from
Aug. 26, 1895, to May 19, 1896. They built a hut of stone and covered
it with a roof of walrus hides and lived during the winter mainly on
polar bear and walrus meat, using the blubber as fuel. On their way
to Spitsbergen they encountered Frederick Jackson and his party of the
Jackson-Harmsworth expedition, on June 17, and returned to Norway in
his ship Windward, reaching Vardo on August 13. The Fram also reached
Norway safely, having drifted north to 85 57'. Nansen and his companions
on board the Fram were given a rousing welcome, which reached its climax
on their arrival in Kristiania on September 9. His two-volume account
of the expedition, Fram over Polhavet (Farthest North), appeared in
Nansen's success as an explorer was due largely to his careful evaluation
of the difficulties that might be encountered, his clear reasoning,
which was never influenced by the opinions of others, his willingness
to accept a calculated risk, his thorough planning, and his meticulous
attention to detail. Many of these traits can be recognized in his scientific
writings. In 1882 he was appointed curator of zoology at the Bergen
museum. He wrote papers on zoological and histological subjects, illustrated
by excellent drawings. For one of his papers, "The Structure and
Combination of Histological Elements of the Central Nervous System"
(1887), the University of Kristiania conferred upon him the degree of
doctor of philosophy. Though the paper contained so many novel interpretations
that the committee that had to examine it accepted it with doubt, it
is now considered a classic.
On his return from the Fram expedition in 1896, a professorship in zoology
was established for Nansen at the University of Kristiania, but his
interests shifted from zoology to physical oceanography, and in 1908
his status was changed to professor of oceanography. During 1896-1917
he devoted most of his time and energy to scientific work. He edited
the report of the scientific results of his expedition and himself wrote
some of the most important parts. He participated in the establishment
of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and for
some time directed the council's central laboratory in Kristiania. In
1900 he joined the Michael Sars on a cruise in the Norwegian Sea. In
1910 he made a cruise in the Fridtjof through the northeastern North
Atlantic; in 1912 he visited the Spitsbergen waters on board his own
yacht Veslemoy; and in 1914 he joined B. Helland-Hansen on an oceanographic
cruise to the Azores in the Armauer Hansen. In 1913 Nansen traveled
through the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea to the mouth of the Yenisey
River and back through Siberia. He published the results of his cruises
in numerous papers, partly in cooperation with Helland-Hansen. His lasting
contributions to oceanography comprise improvement and design of instruments,
explanation of the wind-driven currents of the seas, discussions of
the waters of the Arctic, and explanation of the manner in which deep-
and bottom-water is formed.
Nansen also dealt with other subjects: for instance, his Nord i takeheimen,
2 vol. (1911; In Northern Mists) gave a critical review of the exploration
of the northern regions from early times up to the beginning of the
Statesman and humanitarian.
As Nansen grew older he became more interested in the relations between
individuals and nations. In 1905 he took a lively part in the discussion
about the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden. His attitude
may be summarized by his words: "Any union in which the one people
is restrained in exercising its freedom is and will remain a danger."
On the establishment of the Norwegian monarchy, Nansen was appointed
its first minister in London (1906-08). In 1917, during World War I,
he was appointed head of a Norwegian commission to the United States
and negotiated a satisfactory agreement with the U.S. government about
the import of essential supplies to Norway.
At the first assembly of the League of Nations in 1920, the Norwegian
delegation was headed by Nansen, who was to remain one of the outstanding
members of the assembly until his death. In April 1920 the council of
the League of Nations gave Nansen his first great task, appointing him
high commissioner responsible for the repatriation from Russia of about
500,000 prisoners of war from the former German and Austro-Hungarian
armies. The Soviet government would not recognize the League of Nations
but negotiated with Nansen personally, and in September 1922 he reported
to the third assembly of the League that his task was completed and
that 427,886 prisoners of war had been repatriated.
In August 1921 Nansen was asked by the International Committee of the
Red Cross to direct an effort to bring relief to famine-stricken Russia.
He accepted, and on August 15 a conference in Geneva, at which 13 governments
and 48 Red Cross organizations were represented, appointed him high
commissioner of this new venture. On August 27 he concluded an agreement
with the Soviet government authorizing him to open in Moscow an office
of the "International Russian Relief Executive." Nansen's
request to the League for financial assistance was turned down, but
by appealing to private organizations and by addressing large public
meetings he succeeded in raising the necessary funds.
On July 5, 1922, on Nansen's initiative, an international agreement
was signed in Geneva introducing the identification card for displaced
persons known as the "Nansen passport." In 1931 the Nansen
International Office for Refugees was created in Geneva (after Nansen's
death); it cared mainly for anti-communist ("White") Russians,
for Armenians from Turkey, and, later, for Jews from Nazi Germany.
In 1922 Nansen was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace; he used the prize
money for the furtherance of international relief work. The Nansen International
Office for Refugees won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1938.
This article was written in part by Harald Ulrik Sverdrup (d. 1957),
who was director of the Norwegian Polar Research Institute, Oslo, 1948-57.
Jon Sorensen, The Saga of Fridtjof Nansen (1932), is a good, relatively
brief biography. Liv Nansen Hoyer, Nansen: A Family Portrait (1957),
was written by his daughter.