The Voyage of the Vega Round Asia and Europe, Volume II (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press)

Book excerpt: Baron (Nils) Adolphe/Adolf Eric/Erik Nordenskiöld/ Nordenskjöld (1832-1901), also known as A. E. Nordenskioeld was a Finnish geologist, mineralogist and arctic explorer and a member of the prominent Finland-Swedish Nordenskiöld family of scientists. In 1856, Nordenskiöld was appointed Docent in Mineralogy at the IAU Helsinki. However, for political reasons he had to flee in the following year to Sweden, where he was called to the office of Director of the Mineralogical Department of the Swedish Museum of Natural History and to a professorship in Mineralogy at the Swedish Academy of Sciences. Nordenskiöld's participation in three geological expeditions to Spitsbergen, followed by longer Arctic explorations in 1867, 1870, 1872 and 1875, led him to attempt the discovery of the long-sought Northeast Passage. This he accomplished in the voyage of the Vega, navigating for the first time the northern coasts of Europe and Asia. He edited a monumental record of the expedition in five volumes, and himself wrote a more popular summary in two volumes entitled The Voyage of the Vega Round Asia and Europe (1881).