Norwegian explorer and scientist. In 1893 he sailed to the Arctic in the
Fram, which was deliberately allowed to drift north with an iceflow. Nansen, accompanied by F Hjalmar Johansen (18671923), continued north on foot and reached 86° 14' N, the highest latitude then attained. After World War I, Nansen became League of Nations high commissioner for refugees. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1922 for his relief work after World War I.
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