home start exploring again
North logo

Farthest North
Nansen
Aurora borealis
Whaling
New Nansen biography


Nansen's inventions

Fridtjof Nansen combined intellectual perception with practical application. He was both a thinker and a man of action. His mind could visualize the whole, the broad outline, and also cope with the many practical details.
Nansen had a strong practical bent as a scientist and explorer, improving old equipment and even inventing new equipment when the need arose.
Here are three of Nansen's many inventions:

The "Nansen Passport".
The passport was issued to Russians, and later on to other refugees who were unable to get ordinary passports. The Nansen Passport was issued in 1922, and was honored by the governments in 52 countries.
The picture shows a proofprint published in France.

Windmill on board the "Fram".
It was erected on deck to drive a dynamo, which gave sporadic electric light during the long Arctic Night.

Nansen bottle.
A reversing water bottle comprising a water bottle and a pair of thermometers on a reversing frame. Developed by Fridtjof Nansen around 1910 and still in use. It is used for sampling ocean water at various depths.