Vilhjalmur Stefansson

Vilhjálmur Stefánsson ( born November 3, 1879 in Gimli, Manitoba; † August 26, 1962 in Hanover, New Hampshire ) was a Canadian-born polar explorer, anthropologist and nutritionist Icelandic descent.

Origin and Youth

He was the son of Johann Stefánsson and Ingibjorg Jóhannesdóttir - both immigrants from Árnes, Iceland. He was born in Gimli (75 km north of Winnipeg on Lake Winnipeg located ) was an Icelandic founding. He felt strongly connected to its roots and changed his baptismal name " William" later in the Icelandic form " Vilhjálmur ". Although only grown with low basic school education, he taught himself self-taught by reading the Bible, newspapers and books a widely diversified knowledge in. Further training was given to him beyond the state border in the United States at the University of North Dakota (1898-1902), where his family moved in 1881 after a heavy flood in his home. At the University of Iowa in 1903, he acquired the Baccalaureus Artium ( Bachelor of Seven Arts USA: Bachelor of Arts, AB). He also studied anthropology at Harvard University and taught the subject later there for two years.

Expeditions and research

In 1904 and 1905 he led archaeological investigations in Ireland and in the winter 1906-07 he lived as participants of the Anglo -American Polar Expedition with the Inuit in the Mackenzie. In the following years, Stefansson made ​​several expeditions to the Arctic and completed their mapping. He lived temporarily with the Inuit, which he published many papers and books.

In 1915 he discovered the Brock Island, Borden Island and the Mackenzie King Island, which he regarded as a part of the adjacent Borden Island. It was not until 1947 his error was detected and corrected. He also discovered 1916, the Meighen Island and clarified the geography of Findlay Group, whose largest island is the Lougheed Island.

Under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History ( AMNH ), he and Rudolph Martin Anderson undertook an ethnological study of the population of the zentralarktischen and North American coasts. Here he discovered in 1910 the hitherto unknown " blond Eskimo", which previously had never seen a white man.

1913-16 he was commissioned by the Canadian government, the leadership of an expedition to explore the western regions of the Parry Islands, the Canadian Arctic Expedition. Three sailing steamer, the Karluk, the Mary Sachs and Alaska, were placed at his disposal. Its main ship, the Karluk, was included by the end of 1913, ice and sank on 11 January 1914. Stefánsson, who had left the Karluk earlier, continued his expedition to the carriage over the Arctic Ocean ( Beaufort Sea ) continues. The supply carriage turned back after some time, while he and two of his men on sledges further led the expedition and are mainly fed from the hunt. After 96 days they arrived in the fall of the saving Mary Sachs, with whom he continued his expedition continued. His research has also included the discovery of new land and the determination of tectonic plate boundaries. The journey with their scientific results were the basis for his scientific recognition. He was also able to extend the findings of the researcher Francis Leopold McClintock. During the expedition, he lived more than a year on the polar ice.

The 25 -strong crew of the Karluk reached under the leadership of Captain Robert Bartlett ( 1875-1946 ), the northern coast of Wrangel Island and wintered there. Chap. Bartlett reached after another grueling hike, accompanied by an Inuk, the Siberian coast, where he was hospitably housed by the native Chukchi. From there he made his way by about 1100 km walk in 37 days through the Bering Strait and set sail for Alaska. Only there, he was able to rescue the survivors of the crew, whose numbers had been reduced by disease and conflicts continue to organize and hide in September 1914 just in time before the next winter with the chartered schooner King & Winge from Alaska. Of the 25 crew members of the Karluk survived only 14 men. The role Stefansson on this expedition is controversial. On the one hand he is accused of having left the Karluk willfully, on the other hand was the personal relationship between him and Robert Bartlett probably from the beginning problematic. It is clear that the equipment of the Karluk and the ship itself for an expedition or winter were not nearly enough.

Stefánsson was a very well-known scientist in his lifetime. Later he was due to its connections to Dartmouth College, where he was Director of the Division of Polar Studies, one of the leading figures in the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory ( CRREL ) of the U.S. Army in Hanover.

Stefánsson was also interested in nutritional sciences and habits, especially those with very low-carbohydrate diet He documented the fact that the diet of the Inuit covers about 90 % of fish and flesh, and in part six to nine months a year of nothing feed. In addition, he found out that he and his European companions such a " zero -carbohydrate diet" survived completely healthy. When he was approached by doctors to this point, he and a companion consented to participate in a one-year study under the supervision of the American Medical Association ( America's largest medical association ). In the study was to show that people can only feed on fish and meat, without suffering vitamin supplements and no health damage. The results were published in the Journal of the AMA. Both men survived the study without adverse health effects.

Stefansson's personal records and the collection of arctic objects are preserved in the library of Dartmouth College ( Dartmouth College Library ) and the public.

Stefánsson for his saying: " ventures are a sign of incompetence. " Known (English " Adventure is a sign of incompetence. ").

Already during his lifetime was Stefansson Iceland, an island on the northeast corner of Victoria Island, named after him. In addition, the Stefansson Basin bear in the Arctic Ocean (82 ° 30 'N, 133 ° 0' W82.5 -133 ), the Stefansson - road on the east side of the Antarctic Peninsula (69 ° 26 ' S, 62 ° 25' W 69.433333333333-62.416666666667 ) and the Stefansson Bay on the coast of the Antarctic land Wilke (67 ° 20 ' S, 59 ° 8' O 67.33333333333359.133333333333 ) his name.

Publications

Years can not be determined accurately because different data are available.

  • My Life with the Eskimo, 1912 (English title: The Secret of the Eskimos )
  • The friendly Arctic, 1922 ( German title: Countries of the Future )
  • Hunters of the Great North, 1922 ( German title: Hunter of the Far North )
  • The North Ward course of Empire, 1923 ( German title: uncharted territory in the north)
  • The Adventure of Wrangel Iceland, 1925
  • Northward ho! An account of the Far North, 1927
  • The Three Voyages of Martin Frobisher, 1938
  • Iceland: The First American Republic, 1939
  • Unsolved mysteries of the Arctic, 1939
  • Ultima Thule, 1940
  • Greenland, 1942
  • Arctic Manual, 1944
  • Compass of the World (co-author: Hans W. Weigert ), 1944
  • Not by bread alone, New York, MacMillan 1946; expanded edition under the title The Fat of the Land, New York, Macmillan, 1956, ² 1961
  • Great Adventures and Explorations (co-author: Olive Rathbun Wilcox ), 1947
  • Northwest to Fortune, 1958
  • Cancer: Disease of civilization? An anthropological and historical study, 1960
  • Discovery - the autobiography of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 1964
Gimli (Manitoba) Hanover (New Hampshire) Mackenzie River Stefansson Island Victoria Island (Canada) Integrated Authority File
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