Growing up surrounded by shipowners and sea captains, Roald Amundsen seemed almost fated to chart his course toward exploration. He came into the world on July 16, 1872, in Borge, Norway—the fourth and youngest son of Jens Amundsen and Hanna Sahlqvist. His father ran a shipping business, and virtually everyone in his orbit, from close relatives to family friends, had deep ties to maritime life. Yet his mother harbored a very different ambition for young Roald: she dreamed he would become a doctor, sparing him from the grueling demands that came with the family trade. Respecting her wishes, Roald obediently set out on the path toward a medical career. But beneath that compliance burned an unrelenting passion for adventure and exploration. When his mother died—he was only 21 at the time—Roald made the pivotal decision to walk away from medical school and chase the life of exploration that had never stopped calling his name.
Roald Amundsen's first major foray into the unknown came in 1897, when the 24-year-old signed on to the Belgian Antarctic Expedition. The voyage proved historic on two counts: it was the first ship expedition to reach Antarctica, and because freezing conditions trapped the vessel, the crew became the first to endure a winter on the continent. Six years later, in 1903, Amundsen achieved another milestone by becoming the first person to successfully navigate Canada's Northwest Passage, this time at the helm of his own crew. His 1918 attempt to cross the Arctic Ocean aboard his ship, the Maud, fell short of its primary objective, yet the expedition yielded scientific research that would prove invaluable to those who followed. And then, in 1926, Amundsen claimed yet another first—reaching the North Pole, this time not by sea but by air, flying in a plane called the Norge.
A towering figure of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, Roald Amundsen lived a life defined by bold pursuits and groundbreaking achievements. Having accomplished so many of the goals he had set for himself, he looked ahead to leaving behind the turbulent existence of a professional explorer. Tragically, that retirement never came. He lost his life in a plane crash over the Arctic Ocean during a rescue mission to locate a friend whose aircraft had gone down. His body was never recovered, yet the remarkable legacy of Roald Amundsen and his Arctic exploits endures to this day.