He studied at the University of Oslo, as well as later at Naples. In
        1882 he made a voyage into the Arctic regions in the sealer 'Viking';
        and on his return was made keeper of the national history department
        of the museum at Bergen. In the summer of 1888 he made an adventurous 
        journey across Greenland from east to west. He described it in "The
        First Crossing of Greenland". But his great achievement was the
        partial accomplishment of his scheme for reaching the North Pole by
        letting his ship get frozen into the ice nother of Siberia and drift
        with a current setting towards Greenland. He started in the 'Fram',
        built for the purpose, in August 1893, reached the New Siberian
        islands in September, nade fast to an ice floe, and drifted north on
        March 3, 1895. There, accompanied by Johansen, he left the 'Fram' and
        pushed across the ice, reaching the highest latitude till then
        attained, 86 14 N on Ap;ril 7. The two wintered in Franz Josef land.
        "Farthest North" (2 volumed 1897) recounts his adventures. Professor
        of Zoology (1897) and of Oceanography (1908) at Oslo, Nansen furthered
        the separation of Norway and Sweden, and was Norwegian ambassador in
        London (1906-1908). He published "In Northern Mosts" (1911), "Through
        Siberia" (1914). In 1922 he got a Nobel peace prize for  Russian
        relief work and he did much for the League of Nations.
 

Source:  Chambers's Biographical Dictionary.