Adolf Erik Nordenskjöld, full name Nils Adolf Erik, Baron Nordenskjöld (1832-1901), Swedish explorer, geographer, and geologist. He led the first successful navigation of the Northeast Passage. In the mid-19th century he made several expeditions to the island of Spitsbergen, off the coast of Norway, producing valuable geological information. His expedition through the Northeast Passage began in July 1878, when his ship, the Vega, steamed out of Tromsø, Norway, and headed northeast into the Arctic Ocean. From September until July 1879, the ship was iced near the Bering Strait; it reached Alaska on July 22, returning to Stockholm in April 1880 via China and the Suez Canal. In 1883 he was the first to break the ice barriers off the southeast coast of Greenland.