Born in theGrand Duchy of Finland in theRussian Empire, he was forced to move to Sweden in 1857 due to his political activity, where he became a member of theParliament of Sweden and of theSwedish Academy. He led theVega Expedition along the northern coast ofEurasia in 1878–1879. This was the first complete crossing of theNortheast Passage. Initially a troubled enterprise, the successful expedition is considered to be among the highest achievements in the history of Swedish science.
Adolf Erik was the father ofGustaf Nordenskiöld (explorer ofMesa Verde) andErland Nordenskiöld (ethnographer ofSouth America) and maternal uncle ofNils Otto Gustaf Nordenskjöld (another polar explorer). Nils Otto Gustaf Nordenskjöld's parents were cousins — Otto Gustaf Nordenskjöld (born in 1831 in Hässleby, Sweden) and Anna Elisabet Sofia Nordenskiöld (born in 1841 in Finland), who was the sister of Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld. The Swedish side of the family used the spelling "Nordenskjöld", whereas the Finnish side of the family used the "Nordenskiöld" spelling.[citation needed] His nephewErik Nordenskiöld became a zoologist and historian of biology.
Nordenskiöld was born in 1832 inHelsinki, the capital of Finland, but he spent his early youth on the family estate, the Frugård Manor, located in theNumminen village inMäntsälä.[1][4] He went to school inPorvoo, a small town on the south coast of Finland.[1] He then entered theImperial Alexander University in Helsinki in 1849 where he studiedmathematics,geology, and applied himself especially tochemistry andmineralogy.[5] He received his master's degree in 1853. Two years later he published his doctoraldissertation, entitled"Om grafitens och chondroditens kristallformer" ("On the crystal forms ofgraphite andchondrodite").[1]
Upon his graduation, in 1853, Nordenskiöld accompanied his father to theUral Mountains and studied theiron andcopper mines atTagilsk; on his return he received minor appointments both at the university and the mining office.[5]
Having studied underJohan Ludvig Runeberg,[1] Nordenskiöld belonged toLiberal, anti-tsarist circles that agitated for Finland's liberation from Russia by the Swedes during theCrimean War. An unguarded speech at a convivial entertainment in 1855 drew the attention of theImperial Russian authorities to his political views, and led to a dismissal from the university.[5]
He then visitedBerlin, continuing his mineralogical studies, and in 1856 obtained a travelling stipend from the university in Helsinki and planned to expend it in geological research inSiberia andKamchatka. In 1856, Nordenskiöld was also appointedDocent in Mineralogy at the university. In 1857 he aroused the suspicion of the authorities again, so that he was forced to leave Finland, practically as a politicalrefugee, and was deprived of the right of ever holding office in the university of Finland.[1][5] He fled to Sweden.
In 1862, he was one of the founding members ofSällskapet Idun, a men's association founded in Stockholm.[6]
Nordenskiöld's participation in three geological expeditions to Spitsbergen, followed by longer Arctic explorations in 1867, 1870, 1872 and 1875,[1][9] led him to attempt the discovery of the long-soughtNortheast Passage. This he accomplished in the voyage of theSS Vega, navigating for the first time the northern coasts of Europe and Asia. Starting fromKarlskrona on 22 June 1878, theVega doubledCape Chelyuskin in the following August, and after being frozen in at the end of September near theBering Strait, completed the voyage successfully in the following summer. He edited a monumental record of the expedition in five volumes, and himself wrote a more popular summary in two volumes.[5] On his return to Sweden he received an enthusiastic welcome, and in April 1880 was made abaron and a commander of theOrder of the North Star.[5]
In 1883, he visited the east coast ofGreenland for the second time, and succeeded in taking his ship through the great ice barrier, a feat attempted in vain during more than three centuries.[5] The captain on theVega expedition,Louis Palander, was made a nobleman at the same time, and took the namePalander af Vega.
As an explorer, Nordenskiöld was interested in the history of Arctic exploration, especially as evidenced in old maps. This interest in turn led him to collect and systematically study early maps. He wrote two substantial monographs, which both included many facsimiles, on early printed atlases and geographical mapping and medieval marine charts, respectively theFacsimile-Atlas to the Early History of Cartography (1889)[12] andPeriplus: An essay on the early history of charts and sailing directions (1897).[13]
In 1858, Nordenskiöld took part inTorell's first expedition toSvalbard in thesloopFrithiof. The expedition made biological and geological observations along the coast ofSpitsbergen.[15]
In 1861, he took part in Torell's second Svalbard expedition on board theÆolus. This included a boat journey along the scarcely explored northern coast ofNordaustlandet as far asPrins Oscars Land. They also began to measure ameridian arc, but did not complete the work.[16]
In 1864, theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences placed Nordenskiöld in command of theschoonerAxel Thordsen to complete the meridian arc survey. After conducting the necessary measurements in the south of Svalbard, they rescued 27 men who had to abandon their ice-locked ships.[17]
In 1868 on the schooner-rigged iron steamerSofia, he went farther north than any vessel had ever been in theEastern Hemisphere. He reached82° 42' N, surpassingWilliam Scoresby's previous record by 12'.[18]
In 1870, he visitedGreenland to find out whether using sledge dogs was advisable for a polar expedition. He came to the conclusion that it would be impractical to procure and rely on a large number of dogs from Greenland in view of recent outbreaks of a contagious dog sickness. He made a journey ca. 48 km (30 mi) onto the inland ice. At Uivfaq onDisko Island, several large blocks of native iron were found that Nordenskiöld assumed to bemeteorites.[19] Nowadays it is thought that the iron accumulated inbasalt formations through volcanic eruptions.[20]
In 1872, Nordenskiöld embarked on an expedition to reach the North Pole usingreindeer. To this end, the steamerPolhem, the steamerOnkel Adam, and thebrigGladan met bySpitsbergen. AtMosselbukta, the three ships were unexpectedly frozen in. Nordenskiöld was faced with feeding the 67 men throughout the winter, as well as helping out the crews from six Norwegian hunting vessels that had suffered the same fate. The situation was worsened when all but one of the reindeer escaped. Instead of a sledge journey to the pole, only a trip to Nordaustlandet could be undertaken during which one expedition member disappeared while searching for driftwood. The supplies ran dangerously low andscurvy was rampant. Only one sailor succumbed to it however, becauseBenjamin Leigh Smith on the steamerDiana found the beset ships and donated his provisions. Two weeks later, the ice opened up and the ships could return to Sweden.[21][22]
In 1875, he went to theYenisei River inSiberia, on board the sloopPröven, which he sent back while he went up the river in a boat and returned home by land.[23]
In 1876, Nordenskiöld repeated the journey to the mouth of the Yenisei with the steamerYmer to prove that this route was not dependent on unusually favourable ice conditions.[24]
In 1878–1879 he was the first to complete the entireNortheast passage along the northern coast of Eurasia. This he accomplished in the voyage of theVega. Starting fromKarlskrona on 22 June 1878, theVega doubledCape Chelyuskin in August.Vega was initially accompanied by the shipsLena,Fraser, andExpress. The latter two parted way at the mouth of the Yenisei and traveled upstream.Lena navigated up theRiver Lena toYakutsk. At the end of September,Vega was frozen in near theBering Strait and passed the winter among the coastalChukchi. By sailing through Bering Strait in July 1879,Vega completed the Northeast Passage.[25]
In 1882–1883 –2nd Dickson Expedition ("Den andra Dicksonska Expeditionen till Grönland"[26]), he tookSofia toDisko Bay where, together with threeSaami, he made an expedition to the inland ice sheet. He expected the interior of Greenland to be ice-free and perhaps covered in forests. Nordenskiöld quickly had to give up due to technical problems, but the Saami penetrated 230 kilometres eastward before returning. On the east coast ofGreenland, the expedition penetrated the great ice barrier—as the first after 300 years of attempts—and landed atAmmasalik (Kung Oscars Hamn) 65° 37' N, only slightly to the north of whereWilhelm August Graah was forced to turn hisUmiak expedition round in 1830.
^Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld,Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of Cartography with Reproductions of the Most Important Maps Printed in the XV and XVI Centuries, trans. Johan Adolf Ekelöf (Stockholm, 1889; reprinted, New York: Dover, 1973).
^Bird, John; Goodrich, Cyrena; Weathers, Maura (1981). "Petrogenesis of Uivfaq Iron, Disko Island, Greenland".Journal of Geophysical Research.86 (B12):11787–11805.Bibcode:1981JGR....8611787B.doi:10.1029/JB086iB12p11787.
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nordenskiöld, Nils Adolf Erik".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 740–741.
