NANSEN, FRIDTJOF (1861-1930), Norwegian scientist, explorer and statesman, was born at Froen near Christiania, where he spent his childhood, on Oct. io, 1861. In his fifteenth year his parents removed to Christiania, where he went to school. He entered Christiania university in 188o and studied zoology ; in March 1882 he joined the sealing-ship "Viking" for a voyage to Greenland waters. On his return he became curator of the Ber gen Museum, under Daniel Cornelius Danielssen (1815-1894). In 1886 he spent a short time at the zoological station at Naples, during which he wrote papers and memoirs on zoological and histological subjects, for one of which, "The Structure and Com bination of the Histological Elements of the Central Nervous System" (Bergen, 1887), the Christiania university conferred upon him the degree of doctor of philosophy. But his voyage in the "Viking" had indicated Greenland as a possible field for exploration, and in 1887 he began preparations for a crossing of the great ice-field of the interior of that country. Nansen took with him Otto Sverdrup (b. 1855), Captain 0. C. Dietrich son (b. 1856), K. K. Trana (b. c. 1864), and two Lapps. The expedition started in May 1888, proceeded from Leith to Ice land, and there joined a sealing-ship bound for the east coast of Greenland. On Aug. 16 began the ascent of the inland ice amid storms, intense cold, and other hardships, they reached the highest point of the journey (8,920 ft.) on Sept. 5, and on the 28th struck the west coast at Ameralik Fjord. They were obliged to winter at the settlement of Godthaab, and Nansen used the opportunity to study the Eskimos and gather material for his book Eskimo Life (English translation, London, 1893). The party returned home in May 1889. A report of the scientific results was published in Petermanns Mitteilungen (Gotha, 1892). On his return from Greenland Nansen became curator of the Zoo tomic Museum of Christiania university. In Sept. 1889 he mar ried Eva, daughter of Professor Michael Sars of Christiania university, and a noted singer (d. 1907).
In 1890 he propounded his scheme for a polar expedition before the Norwegian Geographical Society, and in 1892 he laid it before the Royal Geographical Society in London. (See "How can the
North Polar Region be crossed?" Geogr. Journal, vol. i.) His adversely criticized plan succeeded. The Norwegian parliament granted two-thirds of the expenses, and the rest was obtained by subscription from King Oscar and private individuals. His ship, the "Fram" (i.e., "Forward"), was specially built of immense strength and peculiar form, being pointed at bow and stern and having sloping sides, so that the colliding ice-floes would tend, not to crush, but merely to slip beneath and lift her. She sailed from Christiania on June 24, 1893. Otto Sverdrup was master; Sigurd Hansen, a Norwegian naval lieutenant, was in charge of the astronomical and meteorological observations ; Henrik Bless ing was doctor and botanist. On Sept. 22 the "Fram" was made fast to a floe in 78° 5o' N., 133° 37' E.; she was frozen in, and the long drift began. She bore the pressure of the ice perfectly. On March 14, 1895, Nansen, being satisfied that the "Fram" would continue to drift safely, left her in 84° N., io I° 55' E., and started northward on foot with Johansen. On April 8 they turned back from 86° 14' N., the highest latitude then reached by man; and they shaped their course for Franz Josef Land. They suffered from shortage of food, and were compelled to winter on Frederick Jackson Island (so named by Nansen) in Franz Josef Land from Aug. 26, 1895, to May 19, 1896. They were uncertain as to the locality, but, after having reached 80° N. on the south coast of the islands, they were travelling westward to reach Spitsbergen, when, on June 17, they fell in with Frederick Jackson and his party of the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition, and returned to Norway in his ship, the "Windward," reaching Vardo on Aug. 13. A week later the "Fram" also reached Norway safely, having drifted north to 85° 57', and returned by the west coast of Spits bergen. A great welcome awaited Nansen. In England he gave the narrative of his journey at a great meeting in the Albert Hall, London (Feb. 8, 1897), and elsewhere.