Norwegian explorer, scientist and international statesman (1861–1930). He made his first voyage to Greenland waters in a sealing ship 1882, and in 1888-89 attempted to cross the Greenland icefield. 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 the Antarctica,) which was deliberately allowed to drift north with an icefloe. Nansen, accompanied by F Hjalmar Johansen (1867-1923), continued north on foot and reached 86° 14´ N, the highest latitude then attained. He was professor of zoology and oceanography at the University of Christiania (now Oslo) and Norwegian ambassador in London 1906-08. After World War I, Nansen became League of Nations high commissioner for refugees, in which capacity he originated the the Nansen passports for refugees. Nobel Peace Prize 1923.
Links:
- The Fridtjof Nansen Institute (http://www.fni.no)
- Short Nansen Biography (http://www.nrsc.no/nansen/fritjof_nansen.html)
- Nansen page w/pictures (http://www.xs4all.nl/~pal/nansen.htm)