Abstract
DURING most of his lifetime the whole world has acclaimed Fridtjof Nansen as a man of the first magnitude, and his fame has grown as his years increased. His outstanding figure shines in history by its blending of almost all the elements of human greatness, and probably this is why the press writers of to-day, when setting forth his claims to immortality, have so often been swept away in a flood of panegyric. I knew Nansen for forty-one years, from the time of his first crossing of Greenland, throughout the struggle to launch his Fram expedition, and the laborious years spent over the scientific reports on the work it accomplished. I was with him year after year at the meetings of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, and at other scientific gatherings in many lands. He was frequent in his correspondence on questions regarding our common interests and the glow of his unfaltering friendship warmed my life. Knowing the difficulties he had to overcome as well as the triumphs he achieved, I trust that it is not presumptuous for me, now that few remain who knew him better, to survey his career from the point of view of a contemporary.
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MILL, H. Dr. Fridtjof Nansen. Nature 125, 933–934 (1930). https://doi.org/10.1038/125933a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/125933a0