 Fridtjof Nansen: Drifting on the Ice Fridtjof Nansen (pronounced "Freedyoff") (1861-1930) was a Norwegian explorer of the Arctic, an oceanographer, and a Nobel Peace Prize-winning humanitarian. He was the first to cross Greenland (1888) and prove that the interior was ice-covered; he proved the existence of a polar ocean current; and he got closer to the North Pole than anyone had been at that time (86°14'N). Nansen believed that an ocean current moved the ice cap across the Arctic Ocean from Siberia. To prove it, he sailed the Fram (a crush-resistant ship) north from Norway in June, 1893, froze it in the waters off Siberia in September, and then drifted northward - eventually arriving back at Norway by way of Spitsbergen (Svalbard) in September of 1896. Picture: The Fram drifts on the ice.
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