Talk:Fridtjof Nansen

Merger proposal
I propose that Fridtjof Nansen Museum be merged into this article. The article itself was created today, and was mostly incoherent gibberish, which I condensed down to a. It includes a bunch of nice images, though these should be checked for copyright issues (I have not had the opportunity nor is it my particular area of expertise). This page seems to make no mention of the museum dedicated to him in Yerevan, Armenia and it probably should. Merging some (or just 1) of the photos into a section or just a sentence in the 'death and legacy' section and converting the article to a redirect seems like it would work well to me. —  InsertCleverPhraseHere  11:44, 13 June 2017 (UTC)


 * ✅ Klbrain (talk) 22:20, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

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Dating of the main portrait
The main portrait at the top of the page says it was taken in 1915, 15 years before his death. The picture is of a fairly young man, though he would have been in his mid 50s at the time. The pictures of Nansen taken in 1925 are of a clearly older man, who looks rightfully in his 60s (because he was). The pictures of him in the 1880s look far more like the supposed 1915 photo than it does the temporally nearer 1925 photo. Unless his Dorian Grey portrait was destroyed sometime between 1915 and 1925, it's hard for me to believe that the main portrait is correctly cited as having been taken in 1915. 174.25.126.57 (talk) 04:34, 10 October 2017 (UTC)


 * This photo was obtained from The Library of Congress.  The 1915 date given there is that when it was published by Bain.   This is not to say the photo is not one of a young Nansen that just happened to be published in 1915.  In short, there is room for better documentation for the actual date of Nansen in the photo.  Bdushaw (talk) 12:30, 10 October 2017 (UTC)


 * The original photo is here, and the University of Oslo, it seems. It is hard to read the photo caption, but it looks to me like it dates to 1897.   Yes, 1897 - google search nansen van der weyde for a larger version on pinterest (which one can't access, etc.). Bdushaw (talk) 13:04, 10 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Ah, here it is: http://www.nansenamundsen.no/en/nansen/Nansen.html   Feb. 11, 1897, as you see.  Bdushaw (talk) 13:08, 10 October 2017 (UTC)


 * On third thought, it could be older. Here it is at the National Portrait Gallery, print dated to 1896. Bdushaw (talk) 13:19, 10 October 2017 (UTC)


 * For now, we should be vaguer in the article image caption, I think. And if we include a date, it ought to be referenced. Can you also add this information to the Commons file talk page so it's not lost? Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 03:26, 11 October 2017 (UTC)


 * More google searching turned up the portrait at the Fridtof Nansen Institute, with the caption "Portrait, 1897 By London photographer Henry van der Weyde, taken in 1897, a few months after the return of the Fram expedition." The photo at the Nansen-Amundsen webpage, dates the photo to "about 1890", despite the explicit caption on the portrait 1897.  The situation still seems fluid...  Bdushaw (talk) 12:45, 11 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Having thought about the issue a bit more, I think we can be firm on the 1897 date.  Firstly, we can rule out 1893-1896, since he was "indisposed" in that time interval.  We can also rule out 1892, since he would have been working like a madman preparing the Fram.  The photo was taken by Henry van der Weyde at his studio in London, hence Nansen would have had to be in London.  He was indeed in London in 1897, I believe.  Then we have the photo itself with its clear caption February 11, 1897. In other photos of Nansen about this time, he looks similar.  Somewhat original research, but then again the Fritof Nansen Institute, which we may accept as the authority, dates the photo to 1897.  I propose we date the photo to 1897 and cite the Fritof Nansen Institute. Bdushaw (talk) 07:35, 12 October 2017 (UTC)

Typo in core chapter
"This office received the Nobel Peace Prize for 1938" should read "This office received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1938" - However, as a standard user I can't edit it myself. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Florian.lancelle (talk • contribs) 07:02, 10 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Without stating a strong opinion on the matter, I believe the issue here is that sometimes the prize is awarded for a particular year, but actually given (for that year) in a different year. So formally, a prize won in a particular year leaves it ambiguous as to which year the prize is associated.   The prize for 1938 could be awarded in 1939, for example.  Bdushaw (talk) 12:24, 10 October 2017 (UTC)

Greenland boats photo
I have added a photo taken from Nansen's book. It is of the boats as they departed for the interior of Greenland, carefully arranged to protect what supplies they could not take with them, I believe. It is part of lore that Nansen burned the boats to ensure a successful expedition - the vikings would do this on arrival at some newly conquered land, it seems. In any case, the boat burning story is certainly not true, and this is partly the motivation for including this particular photo. Bdushaw (talk) 11:08, 10 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Regarding burning boats, see, for example, Nansen Nobel Prize Biography, or Abel Prize. It seems burning boats was a philosophical thought, rather than something one should actually do when one is on the east coast of Greenland in 1888.  Bdushaw (talk) 11:27, 10 October 2017 (UTC)

Istanbul/Constantinople
Perhaps a technical question on language usage on Wikipedia: I noted that an editor recently removed Constantinople, as in "Nansen traveled to Contantinople" in favor of Istanbul. To my ear "Nansen traveled to Istanbul" is an anachronism (yes?) - but what is the best usage in this circumstance, and others like it, on Wikipedia? Should modern terms be used in these circumstances? Or should we use the contemporary terms? Bdushaw (talk) 17:42, 10 October 2017 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 11 October 2017
Please add the year (1930) to the caption of the photograph in the 'Later life' section (the current caption is not very informative).

See file description: File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-09772,_Fridjof_Nansen.jpg 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:852E:7393:15B7:B79E (talk) 04:06, 11 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Yes check.svg Done Sparkling Pessimist   Scream at me!  01:23, 12 October 2017 (UTC)

Burial procession of Fridtjof Nansen's coffin
64.175.41.41 (talk) 07:07, 11 October 2017 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 08:23, 20 December 2022 (UTC)
 * No-nb bldsa 5c006.jpg

"Nansen was a close friend of a clergyman named Wilhelm"
This sounds like WP:TRIVIA. Who was this Wilhelm, and what does it matter if Nansen happened to be friends with him? Muzilon (talk) 01:12, 2 July 2024 (UTC)