Salomon August Andrée
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Drawing from the newspaper Aftonbladet showing the festivitas when the expedition leaves Stockholm for the first try to launch the balloon, in 1896. |
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The grand homebringing of the bodies from the polar expedition to Stockholm, October 5, 1930. |
Salomon August Andrée, during his lifetime most often known as
S. A. Andrée (
October 18,
1854–October
1897) was a
Swedish engineer, physicist,
aeronaut and
polar explorer who perished during a failed attempt to reach the
Geographic North Pole by
hydrogen balloon, the
S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897, which ended with the death of all three participants.
Andrée was born in the small town
Gränna and received an engineering degree in
mechanical engineering from the
Royal Institute of Technology in
Stockholm 1874, working as an engineer until 1880. From 1880 to 1882 he was an assistant at the Royal Institute of Technology, and in 1882–1883 he participated in a Swedish scientific expedition to
Spitsbergen led by
Nils Ekholm, where Andrée was responsible for the observations regarding
air electricity. From 1884 and to his death, he was employed by the Swedish
patent office. 1891–1894 he was also a liberal member of the Stockholm
city council.
His major interest was
ballooning, which he became interested in while attending the
Centennial Exposition of 1876 in the
United States where he also met the American balloonist
John Wise. During 1893â€"95, Andrée performed nine flights with his balloon
Svea, partly to make scientific observations and partly for the ballooning itself including experiment with its technique, mainly drag ropes for steering. Supported by the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and funded by people like king
Oscar II and
Alfred Nobel, his polar explorer project was the subject of enormous interest and was seen as a brave and patriotic scheme. The North pole expedition made a first try to launch the balloon
Örnen (The Eagle) in the summer of 1896, but the winds did not permit the expedition to start. The year after the balloon did set off and sailed for a little more than two days, but could not continue due to leakage of
hydrogen. The expedition was badly equipped for travelling on the ice and never reached land until October when they set foot on the island
Kvitøya, where they died.
Until the expedition's last camp was found in 1930, the riddle of what happened to the expedition was the subject of myth and rumours. The homebringing of the bodies of Andrée and his colleagues was grandly celebrated including a speech by the king
Gustaf V, and they were buried with great honors. Andrée is interred together with his two companions at the cemetery
Norra begravningsplatsen in
Stockholm.
As a scientist, Andrée published
scientific journals about air electricity,
conduction of
heat, and
inventions. His view of life was that of the
natural sciences, and he entirely lacked interest in art or literature. He was a firm believer in industrial and technical development, claiming that even the
emancipation of women would come as a consequence of technical development.
Starting in the 1960s, Andrée's status as a national hero has become questioned and turned to almost the opposite. Focus has been put on the fact that the expedition was bound to fail, and that Andrée obviosly refused to take in information that questioned the expedition's feasibility. Andrée has been seen a manipulator of the national emotions of his time, bringing a meaningless death on himself and his two companions. New research has however complicated the picture slightly, pointing out that although we can clearly see that his preparations were inadequate, his own age found his efforts to manage the difficulties and limitations of polar expeditions both creative and reliable. Andrée can also be seen as a victim of the patriotic sentiments of his time, and of his own successful campaign to promote the expedition stirring much attention, probably making it difficult to back out or admitting weaknesses in the plans in front of the press.
In Andrée's native town Gränna there is a museum dedicated to his polar expedition.
* Sörlin, Sverker. Entries
Andrée, Salomon August and
Andrée-expeditionen in the web version of the encyclopedia
Nationalencyklopedin, accessed April 27 2006 (Swedish)
*
Nordisk familjebok, 2nd edition, the entry
Andrée, Salomon August (Swedish)
*
Grenna Museum - The Andreexpedition Polarcenter
