Vilhjalmur Stefansson

Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962), Canadian-born explorer and anthropologist. Stefansson, who was of Icelandic descent, was born in Arnes, Manitoba, Canada, and educated at the University of North Dakota, the State University of Iowa, and Harvard University. In 1904 and 1905 he made archaeological research trips to Iceland, and in 1906 and 1907 he lived with the Inuit of the Mackenzie River delta, in northwestern Canada. Between 1908 and 1912 Stefansson undertook an ethnological survey of the central arctic coasts of Canada and Alaska. He then took command of what became the longest polar expedition ever made: from 1913 to 1918 Stefansson lived north of the Arctic Circle; he explored beyond the Parry Islands in Canada to the north and west, and discovered the islands of Brock, Borden, Meighen, and Lougheed. Stefansson served as Arctic consultant at Dartmouth College from 1947 until his death.

Stefansson Island, located near Victoria Island in northern Canada, was named after him in 1952. Stefansson wrote 25 books, including My Life with the Eskimo (1913), Greenland (1942), and Northwest to Fortune (1958). Discovery: The Autobiography of Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1964) was published posthumously.