Lifting the veil: the circumstances that caused Alfred Wegener's death on the Greenland icecap, 1930
Abstract When the Geographical Society of Berlin officially welcomed Alfred Wegener's expedition back from Greenland in 1931, a memorial address was made in honour of the expedition leader who died on the Greenland icecap in 1930. This address included a report that shed light on the difficulti...
| Published in: | Polar Record |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2000
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400016247 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400016247 |
| Summary: | Abstract When the Geographical Society of Berlin officially welcomed Alfred Wegener's expedition back from Greenland in 1931, a memorial address was made in honour of the expedition leader who died on the Greenland icecap in 1930. This address included a report that shed light on the difficulties that had confronted the expediton. Wegener was remembered as a researcher who provided an example of ‘a magnificent conception of his duty as leader’ and who risked his life to rescue his comrades. Wegener's death was blamed on a chain of unfortunate accidents, especially bad weather conditions. Using material that was hidden in the archives, this paper examines several additional aspects of the story, such as the influence of the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft (Emergency Society for German Science), which financed the expedition; the erroneous judgements of the expedition leader as well as some expedition members; and the lack of radio transmission. The conclusion is that no single individual can be blamed for Wegener's death, despite the fact that one expedition member, Johannes Georgi, was made the scapegoat. |
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