Nansen's Fram expedition was an 1893–1896 attempt by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen to reach the geographical North Pole by harnessing the natural east–west current of the Arctic Ocean. In the face of much discouragement from other polar explorers Nansen took his ship Fram to the New Siberian Islands in the eastern Arctic Ocean, froze her into the pack ice, and waited for the drift to carry her towards the pole. Impatient with the slow speed and erratic character of the drift, after 18 months Nansen and a chosen companion, Hjalmar Johansen, left the ship with a team of dogs and sledges and made for the pole. They did not reach it, but they achieved a record Farthest North latitude before a long retreat to Franz Josef Land. Meanwhile Fram continued to drift westward, finally emerging in the North Atlantic Ocean. The ship was rarely threatened during her long imprisonment, and emerged unscathed after three years. The scientific observations carried out during this period contributed significantly to the new discipline of oceanography, which subsequently became the main focus of Nansen's scientific work. Fram's drift and Nansen's sledge journey proved conclusively that there were no significant land masses between the Eurasian continents and the North Pole, and confirmed the general character of the north polar region as a deep, ice-covered sea.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nansen%27s_Fram_expedition
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1858:
Edgardo Mortara, a six-year-old Jewish boy, was seized by papal authorities and taken to be raised as a Roman Catholic, sparking an international controversy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgardo_Mortara
1894:
Led by French historian Pierre de Coubertin, an international congress at the Sorbonne in Paris founded the International Olympic Committee to reinstate the ancient Olympic Games. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_de_Coubertin
1946:
Canada's largest onshore earthquake, measuring 7.3 Mw, struck Vancouver Island, but only caused two casualties since there were no heavily populated areas near its epicenter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1946_Vancouver_Island_earthquake
1972:
Title IX of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 was amended (primary author Patsy Mink pictured) to prohibit sexual discrimination in any educational program receiving federal funds, which allowed for huge growth in women's sports for student athletes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_IX
1985:
A bomb attributed to the Sikh separatist group Babbar Khalsa destroyed Air India Flight 182 above the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 329 on board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_182
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
unbeknownst: (followed by to) Without the knowledge of. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unbeknownst
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see) This is what I wanna be Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see) Why the hell it means so much to me. --KT Tunstall https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/KT_Tunstall
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