Fridtjof Nansen

"'The history of humanity is that of a continual struggle from darkness towards light. It is, therefore, of no valuable purpose to discuss the use of knowledge; man desires knowledge, and when he ceases to do so, he is no longer man.' - Dr. Fridtjof Nansen"Fridtjof Nansen D.C.L., Ph.D., Sc.D., GCVO KSO (10, October, 1861 - 13, May, 1930) was a Norwegian athlete, diplomat, explorer, humanitarian, inventor, neuroscientist, oceanographer, professor and zoologist. During his career, Nansen served as Professor of Zoology at the Royal University of Oslo, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Norway and the High Commissioner of the League of Nations' International Office for Refugees. In 1922, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on behalf of refugees of the First World War and his role in the development of the League of Nations.

Nansen's office initiated the Nansen Passport Project, providing stateless refugees with passports recognized by fifty governments, repatriated over a million Greek and Turkish refugees to their respective nations following the Greco-Turkish War and resettled over 2.5 million refugees displaced by the Bolshevik Revolution of 1918 in Russia. The office was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1938 for it's efforts on behalf of global refugees.

Nansen personally drafted the Integrity of Independence Treaty of 1907, securing recognition of the Kingdom of Norway's independence from the European powers, founded the Central Oceanographic Laboratory of Christiania, invented the 'Nansen Bottle,' a device for sampling minerals in seawater, lead the Trans-Greenland Expedition of 1888, the first expedition to traverse the interior of Greenland, and the North Pole Expedition of 1893-1896, negotiated the dissolution of the United Kingdoms of Norway and Sweden and signed the Integrity of Independence Treaty of 1907 and League of Nations' Slavery Convention of 1926.

Trivia

 * Nansen was bilingual and fluent in French and Norwegian.