NANSEN (Fridtjof, 1861-1930, Norwegian Arctic Explorer, Scientist & Diplomat, Nobel Peace Prize Winner 1922)

Superb Albumen Silver Print signed and inscribed to Dr Edward Vaughan HARLEY (1864-1923, Professor of Pathological Chemistry at London University), the image shows him seated at the desk in his study at Lysaker in Norway, surrounded by his books and possessions, 11" x 8½" in mount 10" x 12¼", Lysaker, no date but circa

Nansen was the first ambassador to London, 1906-1908, of the newly separated Kingdom of Norway. He had been the first to cross Greenland by the icecap at nearly 9000 feet. 'Farthest North', 1897, recounts his adventures using the 'Fram', which, anchored to the ice, and specially shaped to avoid being crushed, drifted from Siberia to Greenland, allowing Nansen and his party to reach 86 degrees 14 minutes North, then a record.
Nansen had built a family home in 1891 with the profits frin his Greenland expedition book, but by 1901 it had become too small. His family had expanded considerably with two sons and two daughters. Nansen acquired a plot of land in the Lysaker district and built, substantially to his own design, a large and imposing house which combined some of the characteristics of an English manor house with features from the Italian renaissance. The house was ready for occupation by April 1902. Nansen called it Polhøgda (in English "polar heights"), and it remained his home for the rest of his life. A fifth and final child, son Asmund, was born at Polhøgda in 1903
Vaughan studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with an MBCM in 1887; and MD with gold medal in 1891. After travelling the world for a couple of years he studied in Paris with Louis Pasteur and Pierre Paul Émile Roux, in Leipzig with Carl Ludwig, in Turin with Angelo Mosso, in Vienna, Budapest and Christiania.

Item Date:  1910

Stock No:  40757