Fridtjof Nansen : ‘Just the name’.

There is nothing on Nansen’s gravestone – no date or information about one of Norway’s greatest sons. As Ryne writes, it is fitting that there is no date because ‘there is a timelessness about great men; and in Norway, and indeed the world, Nansen was among the greatest. He was explorer, author, athlete, oceanographer, statesmen and laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize. In addition, he saved the lives of countless thousands through his humanitarian work after the First World War.”
(See Linn Ryne’s website – ‘Fridtjof Nansen : Man of many facets’)

By most standards, and certainly by those of his own times, Nansen had a privileged childhood. From his birth in 1861, he spent a happy boyhood in a spacious farmhouse near Christiania (now Oslo). Although his family was relatively wealthy, he was taught the value of hard work and discipline at an early age. As a young man, he was an outstanding skater and skier. He won the national cross-country skiing championship twelve times in a row and, at 18, broke the world record for 1 mile skating.

But he had a lifelong passion for the far north. In 1882 years he sailed with a sealing vessel to the Arctic Ocean. He took notes of the winds, the ocean currents, ice movements and animal life. Aboard the ‘Viking’, he caught glimpses of the island of Greenland and the idea of crossing the ice cap took root.

On his return, though only 20 years of age, he was offered the post of curator at the Bergen Museum. Though he worked at the museum for six years, he spent the time preparing for his project to cross Greenland. On 29 July 1888, his six-man expedition set foot on Greenland. The trek across the ice cap lasted until late September. The trek took place in temperatures that fell to 50 below zero. Nansen was still only 27 years of age but he led his team where no man had gone before. When he returned to Norway, he was given a hero’s welcome

On 14th March 1895, Nanson left his ship, the Fram, with dogs, kayaks and sledges and made a desperate bid for the North Pole. Their progress was painfully slow and conditions were far far worse than they had expected. Though he had come closer to the North Pole than any other human, Nansen decided to turn back. It took five months to make the 300 mile journey to an island which he named Jackson Island, after the British Explorer. Though he had not made it to the Pole, at the age of only 35, he had already achieved much more than most people twice his age. In a country that had long been dominated by Denmark and Sweden, Nansen was just the sort of hero that his people were looking for.

The voyage of the Fram had major significance. The team had compiled information on currents, winds and temperatures that scientists would use for many years.

Nansen would remain interested in oceanography for the rest of his life, but his leadership qualities meant that he began to take a much more active interest in politics. By 1905, it looked as though war may break out between Sweden and Norway. A diplomatic tour of European capitals took him from Oslo to Copenhagen to London. By mid October, a treaty had been signed which released Norway from Swedish rule. So high was Nansen’s reputation now in his home country that it was rumoured that he was offered the Prime Ministership and some say, even the Presidentship or Kingship. Sensibly, perhaps, he turned both offers on the grounds that he was “a scientist and explorer”.

He served for two years as Norway’s Ambassador in London (1906-1908). Though he had long planned a voyage to the South Pole, he unselfishly, but sadly, handed the ‘Fram’ over to the younger Roald Amundsen.

The outbreak of war in 1914 brought an end to Nansen’s oceanic research and exploration for more than four years. Though Norway was neutral in the war, Nansen was deeply affected by the senseless slaughter across the continent of Europe. When the League of Nations was formed after the war, he worked tirelessly for its success. One of its greatest tasks was the repatriation and housing of the thousands of refugees left roaming across Europe – soldiers in the ‘wrong country’ after the war, penniless, homeless and without food and shelter. Many were thousands of miles away from their homes; some had no families or houses to return to. Repeatedly the League asked Nansen to take charge of the ‘refugee problem’ and such was his standing that even the Soviet authorities agreed to negotiate with him personally.

By September 1922, Nansen was able to tell the League that his mission had been completed. Well over 400,000 prisoners of war had been repatriated. In recognition of his work for refugees and the famine stricken, the Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded him the 1922 Nobel Prize for Peace. Typically, he donated the money to international relief efforts.

Like Einstein, another of our European personalities, Nansen devoted much of his time to peace. Disarmament was an important issue to him. In 1932, the League called a disarmament conference. But Nansen’s reserved seat in the hall was empty. On May 13th 1932, he had died quietly in the peace and quiet of his home just outside Oslo. His gravestone really did need only a name for Norwegians and, indeed, citizens of the world to recognise his legacy.

Web Links

The Fridtjof Nansen Institute
The European Geophysical Society

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