Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen led the first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott as part of the Terra Nova Expedition. He became a national hero, in the first rank of polar explorers, in November 1906. He died of a heart attack in January 1913, aged 83.
About Amundsen’s South Pole expedition in brief
Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen led the first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott as part of the Terra Nova Expedition. The party’s mastery of the use of skis and their expertise with sled dogs ensured rapid and relatively trouble-free travel. The expedition’s success was widely applauded, though the story of Scott’s heroic failure overshadowed its achievement in the United Kingdom. The permanent scientific base at the Pole bears his name, together with that of Scott, and is named after him and his party. He became a national hero, in the first rank of polar explorers, in November 1906. He began raising funds for a further attempt in July 1907, claiming a new Farthest Pole record of 87°6′—a record later disputed by historians. In July 1907 a former shipmate of Dr Cook, a former explorer of the age of 34, claimed a new North pole record of 87°6’—a new record for the number of years it has taken to reach a pole. He was awarded the Order of the Dannebrog for his services to the exploration of the Antarctic in 1911. He died of a heart attack in January 1913, aged 83. He is buried in Oslo, Norway, along with his wife and three children. He also leaves behind a son and a daughter, and a son-in-law, both of whom are still living in Norway today.
He had a son, Oscar, who is also a well-known author and author-director-turned-restaurant owner. He has also written a number of books on the history of polar exploration, including a biography of Fridtjof Nansen, the first polar explorer to set foot on the South Pole, and the first to set out from the pole to the pole. His son Oscar has also published a book on the life of the Norwegian explorer, The Voyage of Roald Amundsen and his Expedition to the Antarctic, published by the University of Oslo, in 1998. The book is called “The Voyage to the Pole: The Story of the First Polar Expedition by Roald amundsen and Oscar Oscar Gjørnesen” ( published by Routledge, Ltd. and published by Piatkusen, Ltd). The expedition was inspired by the polar exploits of his countryman Fridjof Nansen, who had led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition as mate, aboard Belgica under Adrien de Gerlache. The voyage marked the beginning of what became known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, and was rapidly followed by expeditions from the U.K., Sweden, Germany and France. The ship was held fast for almost a year in the Bellinghausen Sea, and had to be towed to safety by pack ice in 1898. It became, involuntarily, first to spend a complete winter in Antarctic waters.
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