Fridtjof Nansen - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

Nansen died of a heart attack, at home, on 13 May 1930. He was given a non-religious state funeral before cremation, after which his ashes were laid under a tree at Polhøgda. Nansen's daughter Liv recorded that there were no speeches, just music: Schubert's Death and the Maiden, which Eva used to sing. Among the many tributes paid to him subsequently was that of Lord Robert Cecil, a fellow League of Nations delegate, who spoke of the range of Nansen's work, done with no regard for his own interests or health: "Every good cause had his support. He was a fearless peacemaker, a friend of justice, an advocate always for the weak and suffering."

Nansen had been a pioneer and innovator in many fields. As a young man he embraced the revolution in skiing methods that transformed it from a means of winter travel to a universal sport, and quickly became one of Norway's leading skiers. He was later able to apply this expertise to the problems of polar travel, in both his Greenland and his Fram expeditions. He invented the "Nansen sledge" with broad, ski-like runners, the "Nansen cooker" to improve the heat efficiency of the standard spirit stoves then in use, and the layer principle in polar clothing, whereby the traditionally heavy, awkward garments were replaced by layers of lightweight material. In science, Nansen is recognised both as one of the founders of modern neurology, and as a significant contributor to early oceanographical science.

Through his work on behalf of the League of Nations, Nansen helped to establish the principle of international responsibility for refugees. Immediately after his death the League set up the Nansen International Office for Refugees, a semi-autonomous body under the League's authority, to continue his work. The Nansen Office faced great difficulties, in part arising from the large numbers of refugees from the European dictatorships during the 1930s. Nevertheless it secured the agreement of 14 countries (including a reluctant Great Britain) to the Refugee Convention of 1933. It also helped to repatriate 10,000 Armenians to Yerevan in Soviet Armenia, and to find homes for a further 40,000 in Syria and Lebanon. In 1938, the year in which it was superseded by a wider-ranging body, the Nansen Office was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1954 the League's successor body, the United Nations, established the Nansen Medal, later named the Nansen Refugee Award, given annually by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to an individual, group or organisation "in recognition of extraordinary and dedicated service to refugees".

In his lifetime and thereafter, Nansen received honours and recognition from many countries. Nansen Ski Club, the oldest continually operated ski club in the United States, located in Berlin, New Hampshire, is named in his honour. Numerous geographical features are named after him: the Nansen Basin and the Nansen-Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean; Mount Nansen in the Yukon region of Canada; Mount Nansen, Mount Fridtjof Nansen and Nansen Island, all in Antarctica. Polhøgda is now home to the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, an independent foundation which engages in research on environmental, energy and resource management politics. In 1968 a film of Nansen's life, Bare et liv – Historien om Fridtjof Nansen was released, directed by Sergei Mikaelyen, with Knut Wigert as Nansen. In 2004 the Royal Norwegian Navy launched the first of a series of five Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates. The lead ship of the group is HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen; two others are named after Roald Amundsen and Otto Sverdrup. In the ocean, Nansen is commemorated by Nansenia, small mesopelagic fishes of family Microstomatidae. In space, he is commemorated by asteroid 853 Nansenia. In 1964, the IAU adopted the name Nansen for an impact crater at the Lunar north pole, after the Norwegian explorer.