Amundsen, Roald (Roald Engelbregt Grauning Amundsen) (rō`äl ä`m

nsən), 1872–1928, Norwegian polar explorer; the first person to reach the South Pole. He served (1897–99) as first mate on the Belgica (under the Belgian Adrien de Gerlache Gerlache, Adrien de (ädrē-ăN də gĕrläsh`), 1866–1934, Belgian naval officer and explorer.
..... Click the link for more information. ) in an expedition to the Antarctic, and he commanded the Gjöa in the Arctic in the first negotiation of the Northwest Passage Northwest Passage, water routes through the Arctic Archipelago, N Canada, and along the northern coast of Alaska between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Even though the explorers of the 16th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. (1903–6); the Gjöa was the first single ship to complete the route through the Northwest Passage. His account appeared in English as Amundsen's North West Passage (1908). He then purchased Fridtjof Nansen Nansen, Fridtjof (frĭt`yôf nän`sən), 1861–1930, Norwegian arctic explorer, scientist, statesman, and humanitarian.
..... Click the link for more information. 's Fram and prepared to drift toward the North Pole and then finish the journey by sledge. The news that Robert E. Peary Josephine Diebitsch Peary, 1863–1955, accompanied him on several of his expeditions and gave birth in the arctic to Peary's daughter, Marie Ahnighito Peary. His wife published her experiences in My Arctic Journal (1893).
..... Click the link for more information. had anticipated him in reaching the North Pole caused Amundsen to consider going south. He was successful in reaching the South Pole on Dec. 14, 1911, after a dash by dog team and skis from the Bay of Whales (an inlet of Ross Sea). He arrived there just 35 days before Robert F. Scott Scott, Robert Falcon, 1868–1912, British naval officer and antarctic explorer. He commanded two noted expeditions to Antarctica . The first expedition (1901–4), in the Discovery,
..... Click the link for more information. . This story he told in The South Pole (tr. 1913). In the course of these expeditions, he added much valuable scientific and geological information to the knowledge of Antarctica.

In 1918, back in the Arctic, Amundsen set out to negotiate the Northeast Passage in the Maud. After two winters he arrived at Nome, the first after N. A. E. Nordenskjöld Nordenskjöld, Nils Adolf Erik, Baron (nĭls ä`dôlf ā`rĭk n
..... Click the link for more information. to sail along the whole northern coast of Europe and Asia. Amundsen then turned to air exploration. He and Lincoln Ellsworth Ellsworth, Lincoln, 1880–1951, American explorer, b. Chicago, Ill. He was a surveyor and engineer in railroad building and later a prospector and mining engineer in NW Canada.
..... Click the link for more information. in 1925 failed to complete a flight across the North Pole, but the next year in the dirigible Norge, built and piloted by Umberto Nobile, they succeeded in flying over the pole and the hitherto unexplored regions of the Arctic Ocean N of Alaska. A bitter controversy followed with Nobile as to the credit for the success. Yet in 1928, when Nobile crashed in the Italia, Amundsen set out on a rescue attempt that cost him his life. Although credit for the first flight over the North Pole has long been given to Richard Byrd Byrd, Richard Evelyn, 1888–1957, American aviator and polar explorer, b. Winchester, Va. He took up aviation in 1917, and after World War I he gained great fame in the air. He commanded the naval air unit with the arctic expedition of D. B. MacMillan in 1925.
..... Click the link for more information. , notes from Byrd's diary suggest that he may not actually have reached the pole, in which case Amundsen and Nobile would hold that distinction. The story of the ventures with Ellsworth, written by the two of them, appear in Our Polar Flight (1925) and The First Crossing of the Polar Sea (1927).

Bibliography

See the autobiographical My Life as an Explorer (tr. 1927).

Amundsen, Roald (Engelbregt Gravning)

Roald Amundsen, 1923.

(credit: UPI/Bettmann)

(born July 16, 1872, Borge, near Oslo, Nor.—disappeared June 18, 1928?, Arctic Ocean) Norwegian explorer, leader of the first group to reach the South Pole. In 1897 he took part in a Belgian expedition that was the first to winter in the Antarctic. In 1903–05 he was the first to navigate the Northwest Passage. He planned an expedition to the North Pole, but, after learning that Robert E. Peary had reached that goal, he set off for the South Pole in 1910. He prepared his trip carefully and in October 1911 set out with four men, 52 dogs, and four sledges. He reached the South Pole in December 1911, one month before Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated attempt. He returned to Norway and established a successful shipping business. In 1926 he and Umberto Nobile (1885–1978) passed over the North Pole in a dirigible. Amundsen disappeared in 1928 while flying to rescue Nobile from a dirigible crash.