Nils Strindberg (4 September 1872 – October 1897) was a Swedish

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in oth ...

and scientist. He was one of the three members of S. A. Andrée's ill-fated Arctic balloon expedition of 1897.

Biography

Nils Strindberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He was the son of wholesaler Johan Oscar Strindberg and Aurora Helena Rosalie Lundgren. His younger brother, Tore Strindberg (1882-1968), was a noted sculptor. His father's cousin was playwright and novelist,

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

(1849–1912). Strindberg graduated from

Norra Real Norra Real ("Northern Real") is an upper-secondary school, located on Roslagsgatan 1 in Stockholm, Sweden. The school is the oldest upper-secondary school in Stockholm and one of the most difficult to get accepted into. A number of prominent re ...

in Stockholm during 1890. He received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

(''fil.kand.'') at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...

in 1893. In 1895, received a post as lector at the

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, ...

. In the spring of 1896 he traveled to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

to study gas balloon flight. Strindberg was invited to the Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 to create a photographic aerial record of the arctic. Before perishing on Kvitøya with Andrée and

Knut Frænkel Knut Hjalmar Ferdinand Frænkel (14 February 1870 – c. 10 October 1897) was a Swedish engineer and arctic explorer who perished in the Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 of S. A. Andrée in 1897. Biography Frænkel was born in Karlstad, Sweden ...

, Strindberg recorded on film their long doomed struggle on foot to reach populated areas. When the remains of the expedition were discovered by the

Bratvaag Expedition The ''Bratvaag'' Expedition was a Norwegian expedition in 1930 led by Dr. Gunnar Horn, whose official tasks were hunting seals and to study glaciers and seas in the Svalbard Arctic region. The name of the expedition was taken from its ship, M/ ...

in 1930, five exposed rolls of film were found, one of them still in the camera.

Docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

John Hertzberg of the

Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolog ...

in Stockholm managed to save 93 of the theoretically 240 frames. A selection of these photos were published along with the diaries of the expedition as ''Med Örnen mot Polen'' (Stockholm: Bonnier (1930); British edition ''The Andrée diaries'' (1931); American edition ''Andrée's Story'' (1932). The book credited the three explorers as its authors. In an article from 2004, Tyrone Martinsson published some digitally enhanced versions of Strindberg's photos of the expedition, while lamenting the lack of care with which the original negatives were stored from 1944. Strindberg's so-called "shorthand" diary from the expedition has the form of messages to his fiancée,

Anna Charlier Anna Albertina Constantia Charlier (/'ʃaljə/) ) (25 July 1871, Norra Åby, Skåne County, Sweden – 1949) was a Swedish woman, today most commonly remembered as the fiancée of Nils Strindberg, participant in the North Pole expedition of ...

(1871-1949), and provides a more personal window on events than Andrée's own diaries. Strindberg's body and those of the other two explorers were brought back to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

for a

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect ...

with great honors. After

cremation Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a Cadaver, dead body through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India ...

, their ashes were interred together at the cemetery Norra begravningsplatsen in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

Gallery: expedition photos

Image:Polar.bear.jpg, Knut Frænkel (left) and Nils Strindberg (right) File:Balloon.hangar2.jpg, Balloon in hangar Image:Eagle-crashed.jpg, Andrée and Frænkel with the crashed balloon

References

Other sources

*Tyrone Martinsson (2006) ''Nils Strindberg : en biografi om fotografen på Andrées polarexpedition'' (Lund : Historiska Media)

External links

A 360° polar panorama designed by Nils Strindberg
This panorama was not discovered until the separate frames that compose it were studied by Tyrone Martinsson, who created this web version. Accessed on January 21, 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Strindberg, Nils 1872 births 1897 deaths Uppsala University alumni Stockholm University faculty Explorers of the Arctic Swedish explorers Swedish balloonists 19th-century Swedish photographers Burials at Norra begravningsplatsen Kvitøya

Nils Nils is a Scandinavian given name, a chiefly Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Latvian variant of Niels, cognate to Nicholas. People and animals with the given name * Nils Bergström (born 1985), Swedish ice hockey player *Nils Björk (1898–1989) ...