Roald Amundsen. Portrait of Roald Engelbrecht Amundsen (1872-1928), Norwegian polar explorer. In 1897 he sailed to the Antarctic with the first expedition to spend the winter there. In 1903 he was the first to sail through the Northwest Passage between Canada and the Arctic. During this mission he mapped the location of the North Magnetic Pole. On 14 December 1911 he became the first to reach the South Pole, one month ahead of Captain Scott's ill-fated team. On 12 May 1926, Amundsen and Umberto Nobile used an airship to become the first to fly over the North Pole. Amundsen died searching for Nobile after the latter had crashed during another Arctic flight.