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The teacher

 

To realize his dream of the Northwest Passage, Amundsen needs to acquire both experience and knowledge. At the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, he visits deputy director Aksel Severin Steen, who gives him the card of introduction he needs.

 

At around ten in the morning on 1 October 1900, Roald Amundsen walks up the slope to the Deutsche Seewarte in Hamburg.

  • Deutsche Seewarte in Hamburg, 1900. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.


He is arriving unannounced, in the hope of an interview with Georg von Neumayer, one of the leading authorities on earth magnetism. This is exactly the field that Amundsen must learn more about, and his luck is in.

"I beheld a man of probably seventy years, whose white hair, benign, clean-shaven face, and gentle eyes presented a most striking resemblance to the famous musician Franz Liszt.

"The old gentleman listened kindly but finally exclaimed, ‘Young man, you have something more on your mind than this! Tell me what it is?'

"I told him of my ambition to be the first to conquer the Northwest Passage. Still, he was not satisfied.

“‘Ah,’ he exclaimed, ‘there is still more.’


Then I told him I wanted to make the conclusive observations of the true location of the North Magnetic Pole. When I said this, he rose eagerly, came over to me, and threw his arms around me in a warm embrace.

“‘Young man,’ he said, ‘if you do that you will be the benefactor of mankind for ages to come.
That is the great adventure.’"​

On the back of a photograph still on Roald Amundsen's desk is the message of goodwill that Neumayer wrote after the student’s stay in Hamburg.

 

Herrn Roald Amundsen zur freundlichen Erinnerung an seinen Aufenthalt an der Seewarte (1 October – 16 November 1900) von Dr. Neumayer

Möge es Herrn Amundsen beschieden sein, den Plan zur Bestimmung der Lage des magnetischen Nordpoles der Erde mit einem glänzenden Erfolge durch zu führen! Dr. Neumayer, Hamburg, den 16 November 1900

“Herrn Roald Amundsen as a friendly reminder of his stay at the Seewarte (1st October – 16th November, 1900) from Dr. Neumayer.

“May it be destined for Herrn Amundsen to execute the plan for determining the position of the Earth's Magnetic North Pole with brilliant success! Dr Neumayer, Hamburg, 16 November 1900.”

The prophet

Back in Norway, Amundsen seeks out a new authority, the man who eleven years earlier sailed into Kristiania (Oslo) to the cheers of thousands of people.

Fridtjof Nansen

Not only has Nansen made the first crossing of Greenland on skis, but also, and no less impressively, he has a few years later led the Fram expedition across the Arctic Ocean. To Amundsen,

"He was the prophet to whom I always looked up in awe"

Amundsen has sought to present his ideas to Nansen ever since his return from the Belgica expedition in 1899, and at the turn of the year 1901, he goes out to Nansen's home in Lysaker, west of the capital.

“I think it is Mark Twain who tells of a man who was so small that he had to go twice through the door before he could be seen. But this man’s insignificance was nothing compared to what I felt that morning as I stood in Nansen’s villa in Lysaker and knocked at the door of his study –

“‘Come in!’ came a voice from inside. And then I stood face to face with the man who for years had loomed before me as something almost superhuman; the man who had achieved exploits which stirred every fibre of my being."

Nansen is willing to help. He shares thoughts, recommendations, knowledge and experience.

 

Several years later, he will describe Amundsen and their meeting:

 

"He emphasized that he saw this exploration of the magnetic pole as the plan's main task, it was its scientific core that gave it its justification, but then he thought that, once he was there, it might be worthwhile to take in the Northwest Passage, which after all had been the goal of men through four centuries; and with a small vessel, which did not draw too much, he thought it could be done.

“My happy surprise increased as he laid things out. Truly he knew what he was talking about, this young fellow, and he knew what he wanted; here was a new explorer of rank.”

Chapter 3

Chapter 1
Museum24:Portal - 2025.03.06
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