The R/V Dr. Fridtjof Nansen bears a fitting name for a research vessel. It is named for Fridtjof Nansen - an impressive man with a wide range of talents: explorer, scientist, author, athlete, statesman, humanitarian worker and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Fridtjof Nansen was born in Norway on 10 October 1861. As a young man, he won the national cross-country skiing championship twelve successive times, and at eighteen he broke the world record for one-mile skating. His athletic prowess served him well for an impressive expedition years later.
His passion for the Arctic began in 1882, when he went aboard a sealing vessel to the Arctic Ocean as a young student. There he observed winds, ocean currents, ice movements, and animal life. He also had a talent for sketching, and impressive illustrations accompany his scientific observations.
In 1888, at the age of twenty-seven, he became the first man to succeed in crossing Greenland, mostly by skis. He led a six-man expedition on a grueling route over the icecap, with temperatures that fell to forty-five degrees below zero and climbs up to 9000 feet above sea level. He and his expedition members returned home as national heroes.
Following World War I, Nansen became a staunch supporter of the League of Nations, and was Norway’s delegate at its assemblies. The conclusion of World War I and the outbreak of the Russian revolution created a difficult situation in Europe for prisoners of war and refugees. The League of Nations created a relief organization, Nansen was asked to head; he was later named as the new High Commissioner of Refugees. Under his leadership, “Nansen passports” were issued, and recognized as certificates of identification for stateless people and refugees.
In 1922, Nansen was recognized for his “work with refugees and the famine-stricken” and awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. He donated the prize money to international relief efforts and continued to work with refugee issues.
He died in his home near Oslo on 13 May 1930. Clearly, the twenty-first century R/V Dr. Fridtjof Nansen possesses an impressive nineteenth century namesake.
05/02/2015