Stefansson, Vilhjalmur, << STEHF uhn suhn, VIHL `hyowl` muhr >> (1879-1962), an Arctic explorer and author, emphasized that the Arctic region is of great military and strategic importance. Stefansson argued that the region is “warm and friendly” and should be settled and developed.
Stefansson was born in Arnes, Manitoba, and attended the University of North Dakota, the University of Iowa, and Harvard University. In 1905, he became a member of an archaeological expedition to Iceland. Between 1913 and 1918, he led an expedition that explored Canadian and Alaskan Arctic regions.
During World War II, Stefansson served as an adviser to the U.S. Army and Navy. He became Arctic and Antarctic consultant to Dartmouth College in 1947. Later, he moved his 35,000-volume polar library to Dartmouth. He wrote many books, including The Arctic in Fact and Fable (1945), Not by Bread Alone (1946), and The Fat of the Land (1956).
