Dr. Nansen is the leading representative of scientific polar ex- 

 ploration today. His field of work being in the Arctic, which con- 

 sists primarily of a central sea surrounded by lands, his investiga- 

 tions have naturally dealt especially with oceanography. He now 

 holds the chair of oceanography in the University of Oslo. In 1888 

 he made the first crossing of the Greenland ice cap (see his "The 

 First Crossing of Greenland," London, 1890; the scientific results 

 were published by Mohn aild Nansen in Ergdnzungsheft No. 105 

 zu Petermanns Mitt., 1892; another publication resulting from this 

 trip was "Eskimo Life," London, 1894). I" 1893-1896, by the 

 drift of the Fram, he brilliantly proved his conviction of the existence 

 of a current flowing across the Arctic Basin. The results of this voy- 

 age are of fundamental importance; they were published under his 

 editorship in "The Norwegian North Polar Expedition, 1893- 

 1896: Scientific Results" (6 vols., London, 1900-1906). To these 

 volumes he has contributed among other papers: "The Oceanog- 

 raphy of the North Polar Basin" (Vol. 3); "The Bathymetrical 

 Features of the North Polar Seas, With a Discussion of the Con- 

 tinental Shelves and Previous Oscillations of the Shoreline" (Vol. 4). 

 Related to the topic of the last paper is his later memoir "The 

 Strandflat and Isostasy" {Videnskapsselskapets Skrifter: I, Mat.- 

 nat'urv. Klasse, 1921, No. 11), Christiania, 1922. The popular ac- 

 count of the Fram expedition is entitled "Farthest North," New 

 York and London, 1897. In 1900 he began, in association with 

 Hjort and Helland-Hansen, the detailed oceanographic investiga- 

 tions of the northeastern North Atlantic that have led to the pub- 

 lications of the following major reports: "The Norwegian Sea," 

 Christiania, 1909; "The Waters of the North-Eastern North x^t- 

 lantic {Internatl. Rev. der gesammt. Hydrobiol. und Hydrogr., 1913); 

 and, with Helland-Hansen, " Temperatur-Schwankungen des 

 Nordatlantischen Ozeans und in der Atmosphare" {Videnskapssel- 

 skapets Skrifter: I, Mat.-naturv. Klasse), Christiania, 19 17 (English 

 translation, with additions, in Smithsonian Misc. Colls., Vol. 70, No. 

 4, Washington, 1920). The results of a voyage to Spitsbergen in 

 1912 are presented in "Spitsbergen Waters" {Videnskapsselskapets 

 Skrifter: I, Mat.-naturv. Klasse), Christiania, 1915, and "Spitsber- 

 gen," 2nd edit., Leipzig, 1922. In 1913 he made a voyage by 

 sea to Western Siberia to study the development of this route as 

 a trade route (see "Through Siberia, the Land of the Future," 

 New York, 1914). He has recently published "Hunting and Ad- 

 venture in the Arctic," New York, 1925, dealing with his early 

 sealing experiences in East Greenland, and is also the author of 

 "In Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early Times," New 

 York, 191 1. In addition to contributing to the advancement of 

 science Dr. Nansen has served his country and humanity in general. 

 He was at one time Norwegian Minister to Great Britain and, after 

 the war, was active in Russian famine relief and in the League of 

 Nations. He is also President of the recently established Inter- 

 nationale Studiengesellschaft zur Erforschung der Arktis mit dem 

 Luftschifi^. 



