THOR HEYERDAHL
Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914 Larvik, Norway - April 18, 2002 Colla Micheri,
Italy) was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a scientific background
in zoology and geography. Heyerdahl became famous for his Kon-Tiki expedition,
in which he sailed 4,300 miles (7,000 km) by raft from South America to the
Tuamotu Islands.
As a young child, Thor Heyerdahl established a strong interest in zoology. He
created a small museum in his childhood home, with a Vipera berus as the main
attraction. He studied Zoology and Geography at Oslo University. At the same
time he studied privately Polynesian culture and history, consulting the then
world's largest private collection of books and papers on Polynesia, owned by
Bjarne Kroepelin, a wealthy wine merchant in Oslo. This collection was later
purchased by the Oslo University Library from Kroepelin's heirs and was attached
to the Kon-Tiki Museum research department. After seven terms and consultations
with experts in Berlin, a project was developed and sponsored by his zoology
professors, Kristine Bonnevie and Hjalmar Broch. He was to visit some isolated
Pacific island group and study how the local animals had found their way there.
Right before sailing together to the Marquesas Islands he married his first wife,
Liv, whom he had met shortly before enrolling at the university, and who had
studied economics there.
Heyerdahl's expeditions were spectacular, and his heroic journeys in flimsy
boats caught the public imagination. Although much of his work remains
controversial within the scientific community, Heyerdahl undoubtedly increased
public interest in ancient history and in the achievements of various cultures
and peoples around the world — he also showed that long distance ocean voyages
were technically possible even with ancient designs. As such, he was a major
practitioner of experimental archaeology. Heyerdahl's books served to inspire
several generations of readers. He introduced readers of all ages to the fields
of archaeology and ethnology by making them attractive through his colorful
adventures. This Norwegian adventurer often broke the bounds of conventional
thinking and was unapologetic for doing so. "Boundaries?", he is quoted as
asking, "I have never seen one but I hear that they exist in the minds of most
people."
Thor Heyerdahl's grandson, Olav Heyerdahl, retraced his grandfather's Kon-Tiki
voyage in 2006, as part of a six-member crew. The voyage, called the Tangaroa
Expedition, was intended as a tribute to Thor Heyerdahl, as well as a means to
monitor the Pacific Ocean's environment. A film about the voyage is in
preparation.
Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914 Larvik, Norway - April 18, 2002 Colla Micheri,
Italy) was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a scientific background
in zoology and geography. Heyerdahl became famous for his Kon-Tiki expedition,
in which he sailed 4,300 miles (7,000 km) by raft from South America to the
Tuamotu Islands.
As a young child, Thor Heyerdahl established a strong interest in zoology. He
created a small museum in his childhood home, with a Vipera berus as the main
attraction. He studied Zoology and Geography at Oslo University. At the same
time he studied privately Polynesian culture and history, consulting the then
world's largest private collection of books and papers on Polynesia, owned by
Bjarne Kroepelin, a wealthy wine merchant in Oslo. This collection was later
purchased by the Oslo University Library from Kroepelin's heirs and was attached
to the Kon-Tiki Museum research department. After seven terms and consultations
with experts in Berlin, a project was developed and sponsored by his zoology
professors, Kristine Bonnevie and Hjalmar Broch. He was to visit some isolated
Pacific island group and study how the local animals had found their way there.
Right before sailing together to the Marquesas Islands he married his first wife,
Liv, whom he had met shortly before enrolling at the university, and who had
studied economics there.
Heyerdahl's expeditions were spectacular, and his heroic journeys in flimsy
boats caught the public imagination. Although much of his work remains
controversial within the scientific community, Heyerdahl undoubtedly increased
public interest in ancient history and in the achievements of various cultures
and peoples around the world — he also showed that long distance ocean voyages
were technically possible even with ancient designs. As such, he was a major
practitioner of experimental archaeology. Heyerdahl's books served to inspire
several generations of readers. He introduced readers of all ages to the fields
of archaeology and ethnology by making them attractive through his colorful
adventures. This Norwegian adventurer often broke the bounds of conventional
thinking and was unapologetic for doing so. "Boundaries?", he is quoted as
asking, "I have never seen one but I hear that they exist in the minds of most
people."
Thor Heyerdahl's grandson, Olav Heyerdahl, retraced his grandfather's Kon-Tiki
voyage in 2006, as part of a six-member crew. The voyage, called the Tangaroa
Expedition, was intended as a tribute to Thor Heyerdahl, as well as a means to
monitor the Pacific Ocean's environment. A film about the voyage is in
preparation.