Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was the first to navigate the Northwest Passage, the first to reach the South Pole, a navigator of the Northeast Passage, the first to fly to latitude 88⁰ N, and the first to fly across the Arctic Ocean. Roald Amundsen 1872-1928 . Early years. Roald Amundsen, born in 1872 near Oslo, Norway, left his mark on the Heroic Era as one of the most successful polar explorers ever born. His career of adventure began at the age of 15, originally studying medicine, but dropping out to go to sea where he soon moved his way up to the rank of mate. (Ed note: Peary, as it turns out, almost certainly didn’t reach the North Pole. In 1911, Britain’s Robert Falcon Scott and Norway’s Roald Amundsen both launched expeditions to reach the Pole. Roald Amundsen. Roald Amundsen and his team became the first people to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911. The Geographic South Pole is the southernmost point on Earth. Amundsen reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911, beating an expedition led by Captian Scott. This was, in fact the plan for Roald Amundsen of Norway, who, in 1909, was busily preparing for an expedition to the North Pole when word arrived that an American, Robert Peary, had just beat him to it. Not one to rest on his laurels, Roald Amundsen later led a trip to the North Pole in 1926 and became the first (with his companions) to verifiably reach the North Pole. They erected a tent, raised the Norwegian flag, and took pictures of themselves standing reverently before it. Roald Amundsen's family owned the ships. One of the greatest figures in the world of polar exploration, he was also the first one to traverse the Northwest Passage in the Arctic. Roald Amundsen was, simply put, one of the greatest explorers of all time. Even in his youth, the remarkable book of J. Franklin, a polar explorer, fell into the hands of the future explorer. Amundsen was born on the 16th of July, 1872, on a small farm near Sarpsborg in south-eastern Norway. Roald Amundsen and his team used skis and dogsleds to travel across Antarctica's icy landscape. Youth []. He was born in 1872 in a family of navigators. Let us journey forth to discover 50 trailblazing facts about the Last of the Vikings. He is most famous for being the first man to reach the South Pole, but in his journeys across the polar wastes, he experienced unimaginable horrors. Roald Amundsen: first to reach the South Pole, the first to make a ship voyage through the Northwest Passage, and one of the first to cross the Arctic by air. They stayed in the area for three days, exploring the terrain and checking their instruments. The great Norwegian, the one who reached the first South Pole, constantly traveled in the most difficult and sparsely populated corners of the Earth. In 1910-1911, Scott made his second attempt to be the first to reach the pole on the Terra Nova (pictured), but Norwegian Roald Amundsen had set out to beat him to the punch. He is best remembered for leading the Antarctic expedition to become the first men to short biography. Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen - Biographical notes 16th July 1872 - 18th June 1928. Amundsen had beaten his great rival Robert Falcon Scott, the British explorer to the Pole and he became world-famous as a result of his remarkable feat. They were the first people to reach the South Pole. The expedition also used lighter sleds and more appropriate clothing and equipment. Always on the prowl for more adventure; Amundsen purchased a Farman biplane in 1914, intending to mount skis on the craft and use it to fly over polar obstacles. On Dec. 14, the five men, with only 16 dogs left, arrived at 90° 0′ S. Amundsen gave the name “Polheim” to their camp at the South Pole, which means “Home on the Pole,” while he renamed the Antarctic Plateau as King Haakon VII’s Plateau. On 14 December 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team became the first people to reach the South Pole. Norwegian-born Amundsen was the first person to sail through the North-West Passage, the first man to reach the South Pole and the first to take a transarctic flight across the North Pole. It would end in victory for Amundsen – and tragedy for Scott. The previous expeditions of Cook, Peary and Byrd all claimed to have reached the North Pole earlier, but each of those claims are disputed today. It is located on the ice-covered continent of Antarctica. They beat Captain Robert Falcon Scott's British … He used this device called Sextant. Amundsen's South Pole expedition This wonderful set of photographs come from the pages of The South pole; an account of the Norwegian Antarctic expedition in the "Fram," 1910-1912 , Roald Amundsen's account of his expedition which became the first to reach the South Pole on 14 December 1911, just five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott. Open this photo in gallery: Choosing dogs over horses led Amundsen to reach the South Pole before the doomed … Roald Amundsen is proud to be the first person to reach both poles of the earth. The Norwegian Captain Roald Amundsen was already a celebrated explorer. In the early 20th century, the race was on to reach the South Pole, with a number of explorers testing themselves in the freezing Antarctic.. On 14 December 1911, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (who had already led the first expedition to traverse the North West Passage, and would go on to lead the first successful attempt to cross the Arctic by air) and his team became the first human beings to reach the South Pole, just over a month before Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova expedition. His other journeys included the first successful trip through the Northwest Passage beyond Canada. Administration; Mission and Vision; Who was Roald Amundsen? He traveled to both the Arctic and the Antarctic, and he was the first person to reach the South Pole. When Roald Amundsen was a teenager he insisted on sleeping in the open with his bedroom window to augment the cold himself. Amundsen was also active in the Arctic, leading an expedition to the North Pole in 1926. Roald Amundsen became determined to be the first person to reach the South Pole. Roald Amundsen and his team became the first people to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911. Roald Amundsen and his crew looking at the Norwegian flag at the South Pole, 1911. (Note: Amundsen’s North Pole feat was achieved via aircraft.) Norwegian Roald Amundsen would become the first explorer to reach the South Pole two years later in 1911. His trip was a success partly because their base was almost 100 km closer to the pole than Scott’s. He was one of the greatest figures in the field of polar exploration. Roald Amundsen was greeted by a sea captain's dynasty. Jonathan, who lives in Cavan but is “very fond of Kildare”, explained that he’s very keen on family history and his Quaker forebears from Ballitore, combined with a love of natural and polar history. What year did Roald Amundsen reach the South Pole? But Amundsen had a major advantage. In December 1911, Amundsen and his party became the first to trek to the South Pole. Early in his life Roald Amundsen dreamed of the sea. Who was first? Amundsen and his contemporaries are often called the prime examples of the "Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration" which came to a definite end with the switch to a more scientific approach in the "international geophysical year" 1957/58, which established the Amundsen/Scott South Pole Station and launched the space race with Sputnik.. In the early 1910s, explorers Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott engaged in a frantic, and ultimately tragic, race to be the first man to reach the South Pole. World War I ended that endeavor, but the explorer continued to dream of flying over the great ice cap. Roald Engebreth Gravning Amundsen was born in 1872 at Borge, Norway. Roald Amundsen died with a crew of five in a small flying boat that took off from Tromso, Norway in June 1928 on a rescue mission for Nobile and two others whose airship had crashed on the way back from the North Pole. By measuring the angle between the lines, one can triangulate the position on the Earth (same way as GPS does today.) If Peary did not reach the North Pole, this makes Amundsen part of groups to have reached both the south and the north poles for the first time. The Norwegian explorer had been locked in a thrilling race with British explorer, Robert F. Scott, to the planet's most-southerly point for months and announced his achievement after safely arriving in Hobart, Australia, in March 1912. He had sailed through the North West Passage (1903-6) and was one of the first men to winter south … In 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and British explorer Robert Falcon Scott were each trying to be the first to reach the South Pole. Scott (left) and Amundsen (right) The year was 1911 when a group of Norwegian explorers, led by Roald Amundsen, accomplished what no one had before — they reached the South Pole … Amundsen was born near Oslo, the Norwegian Capital in 1872. He was best known for leading the first expedition to reach the South Pole in 1911. Roald Amundsen, from pole to pole. Sextant is basically a protractor which measures angle between two objects. Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer who became the first man to reach the South Pole when he successfully led an Antarctic expedition to the dangerous terrain on which no man had set foot previously. One hundred years ago, on December 14, 1911, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team became the first people to reach the Geographic South Pole. Dec. 18, 2011 — -- On December 14, 1911, a five-man Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen became the first explorers to reach the South Pole. Early life . Amundsen and his men reached the South Pole at 3:00 in the afternoon on December 14, 1911. Explorer. Roald Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer. On this day in history, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen leads a small group to the South Pole. 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