'Portrait of Dr. Fridtjof Nansen', c1920. In 1888 Nansen (1861-1930) made the first crossing of Greenland. He is best known in exploration terms for his three year expedition (1893-1896) aboard the 'Fram', which enabled Nansen and his crew to get closer to the North Pole than anyone before them. In 1896 Nansen and his companion, Hjalmar Johansen, encountered a British Arctic expedition led by Frederick George Jackson on Franz Josef Land. Nansen had not been heard from for three years and had been presumed dead. After World War I, Nansen worked tirelessly for humanitarian causes including the repatriation of prisoners of war and aiding refugees. He was awarded the Nobel prize for peace in 1920. From The Treasury of Knowledge. [Richard Clay & Sons, Ltd., Bungay, Suffolk, 1934]