Odd Nansen
Norwegian architect, author, and humanitarian (1901–1973)
Odd Nansen (6 December 1901 – 27 June 1973) was a Norwegian architect, writer, and humanitarian. He co-founded UNICEF and engaged in humanitarian efforts on behalf of Jews in the early years of World War II.
Biography
Odd Nansen was born in Bærum, Akershus, Norway. He was the second youngest of five children born to scientist and explorer Fridtjof Nansen. He was raised at Lysaker outside of Oslo. After his mother Eva Nansen died in 1907, he was raised in the home of his neighbor Anton Klaveness. In 1920, he began studying architecture at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim. From 1927 to 1930, he worked in New York City. During 1930, he returned to Oslo and apprenticed with Arnstein Arneberg.
In 1931, Nansen started his architectural practice in Oslo. He also formed the humanitarian organization Nansenhjelpen in 1936 to provide relief for Jews fleeing Nazi persecution in central Europe.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Odd Nansen” as norwegian architect, author, and humanitarian (1901–1973). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as norwegian architect, author, and humanitarian (1901–1973). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q551763. VIAF identifies the subject as 110700571. The Library of Congress control number is n88671453. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1901, 1973, 1907 and 1920.
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This entry incorporates text from “Odd Nansen” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.