Arctic explorer, born at Froen, near Christiania, son of a Norwegian advocate; explored the seas in a scientific interest round Spitzbergen in 1882, and crossed Greenland in 1888, conceived the idea of reaching the Polar regions by following the Polar ocean currents; sailed in the Fram , a ship specially constructed for a Polar voyage, in 1893, and on his return wrote an account of his expedition in "Farthest North" in 1897; b . 1861.