Editing Fridtjof Nansen (section)

=== Planning ===
[[File:No-nb bldsa 1a012 (cropped).jpg|thumb|alt=Portrait of a stern and determined looking man with arms crossed.|Nansen in 1889]]
Nansen first began to consider the possibility of reaching the North Pole after reading meteorologist [[Henrik Mohn]]'s theory on [[transpolar drift]] in 1884. Artefacts found on the coast of Greenland were identified to have come from the [[Jeannette Expedition|''Jeannette'' expedition]]. In June 1881, {{USS|Jeannette|1878|6}} was crushed and sunk off the Siberian coast—the opposite side of the Arctic Ocean. Mohn surmised the location of the artefacts indicated the existence of an ocean current from east to west, all the way across the polar sea and possibly over the pole itself.<ref name="Nansen14">Nansen 1897, vol.&nbsp;I, pp.&nbsp;14–38.</ref>

The idea remained fixated in Nansen's mind for the next couple of years.<ref name="Fleming240" /> He developed a detailed plan for a polar venture after his triumphant return from Greenland. He made his idea public in February 1890, at a meeting of the newly formed Norwegian Geographical Society. Previous expeditions, he argued, approached the North Pole from the west and failed because they were working against the prevailing east–west current; the secret was to work with the current.

A workable plan would require a sturdy and manoeuvrable small ship, capable of carrying fuel and provisions for twelve men for five years. This ship would enter the ice pack close to the approximate location of ''Jeannette's'' sinking, drifting west with the current towards the pole and beyond it—eventually reaching the sea between Greenland and Spitsbergen.<ref name="Nansen14" />

Experienced polar explorers were dismissive: [[Adolphus Greely]] called the idea "an illogical scheme of self-destruction".<ref>Berton, p. 489.</ref> Equally dismissive were [[Allen Young|Sir Allen Young]], a veteran of the searches for [[Franklin's lost expedition]],<ref>Nansen 1897, vol.&nbsp;I, pp.&nbsp;42–45.</ref> and [[Joseph Dalton Hooker|Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker]], who had sailed to the Antarctic on the [[Ross expedition]].<ref name="Berton492">Berton, p. 492.</ref><ref>Nansen 1897, vol.&nbsp;I, pp.&nbsp;47–48.</ref> Nansen still managed to secure a grant from the Norwegian parliament after an impassioned speech. Additional funding was secured through a national appeal for private donations.<ref name="Fleming240">Fleming, pp. 239–240.</ref>