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| FRIDTJOF
NANSEN:
EXPLORER, ATHLETE, OCEANOGRAPHER, STATESMAN |
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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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OTHER GREAT
NORWEGIAN EXPLORER/ADVENTURERS:
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