Nansen and the airships
Lars Frode Larsen, 2021, Hardcover, Bokmål
For the first time, the story of Fridtjof Nansen and Aeroarctic, the International Society for the Exploration of the Arctic Regions, is told. "Future Arctic expeditions would use large airships," Nansen believed. "Groups of scientists would then be stationed at various locations in the Polar Basin, perhaps working there for months while constantly in contact with the outside world. They would be picked up by the mother ship, and new people would replace them in the work, which would last for years." In his pioneering work, experienced author Lars Frode Larsen unravels Nansen's commitment to realizing a research expedition by airship to the polar regions - a voyage that never came to fruition. It is a dramatic story, a story with many complications and tensions on a personal, scientific, economic and political level. Already in the initial phase, contradictions arose between Aeroarctic and strong forces within the German airship industry, and they came on a collision course with Hugo Eckener, a man who was on a par with Nansen himself when it came to energy and willpower, but who had ambitions in directions other than purely scientific ones.
For Fridtjof Nansen, the airships were a potentially peace-making project. At the same time, they represented a fusion of the fields in which he had been active so far throughout his life. They appealed to the adventurer in him, the humanist and the scientist. Artistic efforts could also be required. The fascination lay not least in being able to combine a fundamental enthusiasm for groundbreaking technology with the desire to promote peace work.
