[Illustration: _Fridtjof Nansen_]
Just about 70 years ago, the oceanographer and explorer, Dr. Fridtjof
Nansen completed his famous voyage aboard the research vessel _Fram_,
which remained locked in the Arctic ice pack for 3 years, drifting
around the top of the world while the men aboard her studied the
oceanography of the polar sea. Now the National Science Foundation has
taken the first steps toward building a modern version of _Fram_ for
Arctic studies. This time the vessel will be an Arctic Drift Barge
containing the best equipment modern technology can offer—including, it
is proposed, a central nuclear power plant to guarantee heat and power.
Scheduled for completion sometime in the 1970s, this project represents
yet another use of the atom in the study of the ocean.