GREAT ADVENTURERS FROM THE LAND OF GREAT ADVENTURES
 

Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) — one of Norway’s greatest athletes as a young man — became the first person to sail the elusive Northwest Passage and help prove that the frozen Arctic Ocean and no landmass covers the North Pole. He also was first to make the harrowing crossing of Greenland from coast to coast. Unable to pursue exploration of the South Pole, he gave his specially made arctic vessel, the Fram, to countryman Roald Amundsen to take on the challenge.

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          Nansen’s subsequent contributions to the establishment of an independent Norway qualifies him as a Norwegian founding father, and has made him an internationally known statesman. Nansen used his position of leadership to save hundreds of thousands of forgotten victims of World War I and refugees of the Armenian genocide, earning him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922.
 

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