New perspectives on the Italia tragedy and Umberto Nobile

Abstract

Seventy-seven years ago a tragedy took place in the Norwegian Arctic which shook the international community–especially Norwegians–and led to the public condemnation of the Italian explorer and airship builder Umberto Nobile. Steinar Aas, historian and author of a book on Nobile, has perused a trove of “new” material recently donated to the Norwegian Polar Institute and the Polar Museum in Tromsø, Norway. In this (unreviewed) piece, Aas explains why he finds the new collection a fascinating subject for further research.