Oscar Wisting

Oscar Wisting
Statue of Oscar Wisting at Larvik Maritime Museum (Larvik Sjøfartsmuseum)

Oscar Adolf Wisting (June 6, 1871 – December 5, 1936) was a Norwegian polar explorer. Together with Roald Amundsen he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles.[1]

Contents

Biography

Medal of the South Pole

Oscar Wisting was born in Larvik, in Vestfold county, Norway. At the age of sixteen, he went to sea and in 1892 joined the Royal Norwegian Navy. He was working as a naval gunner at Karljohansvern, the naval base in Horten during 1909 when Roald Amundsen asked him to go north with him on his forthcoming North Pole expedition. Amundsen later secretly changed his plans.[2] Wisting went to sea believing they were heading for the North Pole. Instead he learned that they were going south to pick up the race with Robert Falcon Scott to the South Pole.

On December 14, 1911 along with Amundsen, Helmer Hanssen, Olav Bjaaland and Sverre Hassel, Wisting planted the Norwegian flag on the Geographic South Pole, the first explorers to have reached that point.

From 1918 to 1925 Wisting was chief officer onboard the Maud in Roald Amundsen's attempt to traverse the Northeast passage. From 1923 to 1925 Wisting more or less acted as leader of the expedition after Amundsen left to try to fly to the pole instead.

In 1926 Wisting participated in Amundsen's successful attempt to fly over the North Pole. In the airship Norge they reached the pole on May 12, 1926. The three previous claims to have arrived at the North Pole—by Frederick Cook in 1908, Robert Peary in 1909, and Richard E. Byrd in 1926 (just a few days before the Norge)—are all disputed, as being either of dubious accuracy or outright fraud. Some of those disputing these earlier claims therefore consider the crew of the Norge to be the first verified explorers to have reached the North Pole. In addition Wisting, along with Amundsen, was one of the two first persons who had been to both the North Pole and the South Pole.

In later years Oscar Wisting was an active force behind the preparations and building of the Fram Museum in Oslo, a museum built to store and display the polar ship Fram. On December 5, 1936 Wisting was found dead from heart attack in his old bunk on board the Fram, a few days before the 25th anniversary of the successful South Pole expedition.

For his participation in the expedition, he was awarded the Medal of the South Pole (Sydpolsmedaljen), the Royal Norwegian award instituted by King Haakon VII in 1912 to reward participants in Roald Amundsen's South Pole expedition.

Sources

Oscar Wisting wrote about his experiences with Roald Amundsen in 19 Ar Med Roald Amundsen (Oslo: Glydendal Norsk Forlag.1930). Roald Amundsen wrote about the expedition in Sydpolen published in two volumes in 1912–1913. The work was translated into English by A. G. Chater, and published as The South Pole: An Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the "Fram" 1910–1912.

Legacy

References

  1. ^ Oscar Wisting (Fram Museum)
  2. ^ Roald Amundsen: The South Pole, An Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the "Fram" 1910 – 1912 Chapter II. From Works by Roald Amundsen at Project Gutenberg

Other sources

  • Hansen, Jan Ingar (2001) Oscar Wisting: Amundsens betrodde mann (Schibsted Forlag) ISBN 978-8251618670

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Oscar wisting — Oscar Adolf Wisting (6 juin 1871 5 décembre 1936) est un explorateur polaire norvégien. Il fait partie de l équipe de cinq hommes ayant atteint le pôle Sud en premier, au sein de l expédition Amundsen. Wisting est né à Larvik… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Oscar Wisting — (links vom Hund) mit Gennadi Olonkin Oscar Adolf Wisting (* 6. Juni 1871 in Larvik; † 5. Dezember 1936 in Oslo) war ein norwegischer Polarforscher. Gemeinsam mit Roald Amundsen war er der erste Mensch, der sowohl den …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Oscar Wisting — Los miembros de la expedición de Amundsen plantan la bandera noruega en el Polo Sur, 1911 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Oscar Wisting — Oscar Adolf Wisting (6 juin 1871 5 décembre 1936) est un explorateur polaire norvégien. Il fait partie de l équipe de cinq hommes ayant atteint le pôle Sud en premier, au sein de l expédition Amundsen. Wisting est né à Larvik… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Wisting — Oscar Wisting Oscar Adolf Wisting (6 juin 1871 5 décembre 1936) est un explorateur polaire norvégien. Il fait partie de l équipe de cinq hommes ayant atteint le pôle Sud en premier, au sein de l expédition Amundsen. Wisting… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Wisting — Oscar Adolf Wisting (* 6. Juni 1871 in Larvik; † 5. Dezember 1936) war ein norwegischer Polarforscher. Gemeinsam mit Roald Amundsen war er der erste Mensch, der sowohl den Nord als auch den Südpol erreichte. Wisting arbeitete als Marinekanonier,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Mount Wisting — (86°27′S 165°26′W / 86.45°S 165.433°W / 86.45; 165.433) is a rock peak (2,580 m), the northwesternmost summit of the massif at the head of Amundsen Glacier in the …   Wikipedia

  • Amundsens Antarktisexpedition — Die Fram im Drifteis Die von Roald Amundsen geleitete Fram Expedition war eine norwegische Antarktisexpedition, die erstmals den Südpol erreichte. In den Jahren von 1910 bis 1913 fuhr Amundsen mit der Fram, die bereits zweimal in der Arktis… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Amundsens Südpolarexpedition — Die Fram im Drifteis Die von Roald Amundsen geleitete Fram Expedition war eine norwegische Antarktisexpedition, die erstmals den Südpol erreichte. In den Jahren von 1910 bis 1913 fuhr Amundsen mit der Fram, die bereits zweimal in der Arktis… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Fram-Expedition — Die Fram im Drifteis Die von Roald Amundsen geleitete Fram Expedition war eine norwegische Antarktisexpedition, die erstmals den Südpol erreichte. In den Jahren von 1910 bis 1913 fuhr Amundsen mit der Fram, die bereits zweimal in der Arktis… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”