NANSEN DEAD

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 112, 14 May 1930, Page 11

NANSEN DEAD

INTREPID EXPLORER

MAN OF MANY PARTS

GREAT FEAT RECALLED

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received 14th May, 10 a.m.) LONDON, 13th May. Obituary: Dr. Fridtjof Narisen, aged: 69. l . Scientist, humanist, ' politician, explorer, the career of Fridtjof Nansen is one of thoso which stand as a monument to humanity- and an inspiration to the world. It would be difficult to imagine any life in which there were more varied, fields of effort, in which success was so frequent and in.-which courage, strength .of character, and a wide and sympathetic understanding played such a part. The ,man, whose name will always stand high amongst those of the scientists who' have added to our , store >of knowledge, was passionately active. Early in 1882, while still only 21 years of age, he made his first journey of adventure in the seal-ing-ship Viking, which went to Greenland waters, and the same year he filtered the Bergen Museum as curator, under the eminent zoologist Danielssen. Zoology was Nansen's special subject, and ho spent. some time in travelling Europe, and, pursuing further the studies which he'had commenced in Christiania (now -Oslo) University and taking a Doctorates'degree with a study of the nervous system. His voyage in .the Viking had indicated Greenland as a possible field.of exploration, and in 1887 he set-about preparations for the crossing of the great ice-field which exists in the interior of that country. Assailed by arctic explorers,' refused the snyUl grant he asked from the .Norwegian Government, he carried through his enterprise with private assistance, and in 1888 _left on.a sealer for Greenland. " "" &REAT TRIBULATIONS. ; On their journey Nansen arid his companions encountered great, hardships,wintered in Greenland, studied the Eskimos, and returned home in the following year, where Nansen became curator of the Zootomic Museum of his old university. A year or two later he set about preparations for his most famous voyage, expounding his theory of a drift current across the polar regions from Bering Strait toward the east coast of Greenland. He planned to let his vessel become fixed in the ice and allow her.to drift in. Again his scheme was severely criticised, and again he proved right. This time the Norwegian Government provided most of the expenses, and in 1893, in a ship, the Pram (Forward), built specially to stand the strain of the ice, he sailed with chosen companions. Hardships on this expedition were many, and the explorers were forced to winter at Frederick Jackson Island. This expedition, an extraordinary achievement which focused the attention of the world upon the,intrepid Nanson, resulted in an unprecedented reception upon his return to Norway. Ho received a special medal of the Royal Geographical Society, honorary degrees of many universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, and a special gift of books from the British Government. From that moment his expeditions were numerous. A professorship of zoology was established for him at Christiania, and ho left "periodically to tako part in oceanographic cruises and to continue the work of science which he had begun so vigorously when still a young man of 25. In 1900 he went in the Michael Sars, under Dr. Johan Hjort; in 1910, in the Frithjof; in 1912, in the Veslemoy; and the following year again visited the Arctic; All these voyages were concerned with some portion of the polar regions, until 1913, when lie traversed Siberia as well, and in 1914, when, with Professor Helland-Hansen, he travelled in the eastern North Atlantic. WITH THE LEAGUE. , During the World War, Nansen Js absorbing interest was rendered impossible'" and he threw himself into public work. He had already been' Minister in, England during tlic years 1906-08, and in 1905 had actively intervened in politics, issuing a manifesto and' conducting a campaign in relation to the crisis between Norway and Sweden, Now lie visited the United States at the head of a Norwegian Commission, and obtained a satisfactory agreement foi his country in relation to the import tc Norway of essential supplies. After the Armistice, ho threw himself into the work of repatriating prisoners of war and under him, as Commissioner of the League of Nations, and with the co-oper ation of the International Red Crosses 'about 500,000 prisoners of war were repatriated from all parts of the world This work was financed largely by ths Governments participating in tho In ternational Committee for Belief Cre dits. In 1919,. Nansen conferred wit! Hoover in relation to assistance for the Russian people, and suggested organ ised relief. The project was abandon ed because of the Supreme Council'! insistence that hostilities in Russia mus coase, but two years later Nansen 'was asked' by the International Conferenci of Red Cross Societies to. place him self at the head of relief work for fam ine-stricken Kussia, and tho same yea he negotiated an agreement with Chich erin, tho Soviet Foreign Minister, en deavoured unsuccessfully to induce tin League of Nations to furnish relief b; an international relief loan,'visited _th> chief capitals of Europe and organisec a stupendous work of relief which a ono time, at -the peak of the famin. period, fod and clothed 1,000,000 peopl in the Volga and South Ukraine. It \va Ills publicity campaign which resultei in influencing .America, which, at .on time, under Hoover's management, fa 10,000,000 Russian sufferers. NOBEL PRIZE WON. As High Commissioner for Refugee to the League of Nations, Nansen won tribute from the Assembly of th League, which placed on record its ar preciation of work which had "savei from misery, and "death hundreds o thousands of human beings." In 192 Nansen won the Nobel Peace ;Priz and gavo the money to th furtherance of: his model 1 farm and demonstration estates in Bus sia. As a" delegate from Norwa; to tho League he uttered a vehemen protest against the occupation of Corf by Italy in 1923,. and at the Fifth As semblj% in 1924, he conducted the negfl tiatfons which ultimately resulted in th entry of Germany" to the League. >H also campaigned in the interests of Kus sian universities., and professors. . Ij 1925 a Scottish tribute was paid hir when he was elected Lord Rector- o Aberdeen. ■''■',-. Last year, lie planned, as climax to hi life, to fly to the North Pole. He wa promised tho Graf Zeppelin for the pui pose, but trouble with the crew, arisini out of the loss of the airship Italia, cai rying General Nobilo and his men, frus tvated him. He married, ill 1889, th daughter of Vvoi essor Michae], Sars, o Christiania University, a noted singci

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