Harald Ulrik Sverdup (1888–1957): celebrating the return of the Maud 75 years ago

Abstract

I came here to pay my respects to a man and to a scientist. Harald Ulrik Sverdrup left Norway aboard the R/V Maud in July 1918 for an estimated three years to conduct a broad range of geophysical measurements in the Arctic Ocean. It was to be more than seven years before the Maud came out, to Seattle on 5 October 1925, 75 years ago. The experience gained in these difficult seven years was the basis of Sverdrup’s entire subsequent career.

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Notes on contributors

Walter Munk

Portrait of Sverdup taken in connection with the Maud Expedition through the North-East Passage, 1918-1925. (Norwegian Polar Institute [NPI] Picture Library.)