Andrée, Solomon Auguste, a Swedish aëronaut, born Oct. 18, 1854; educated for a civil engineer. In 1882, he took part in a Swedish meteorological expedition to Spitzbergen. In 1884, he was appointed chief engineer to the patent office, and from 1886 to 1889 he occupied a professor's chair at Stockholm. In 1892 he received from the Swedish Academy of Sciences a subvention for the purpose of undertaking scientific aërial navigation. From that time Dr. Andrée devoted himself to aërial naivigation, and made his first ascent at Stockholm in the summer of 1893. In 1895 he presented to the Academy of Sciences a well-matured project for exploring the regions of the North Pole with the aid of a balloon. The estimated cost amounted to about $40,000. A national subscription was opened, which was completed in a few days, the King of Sweden contributing the sum of $8,280. With two companions, Dr. S. T. Strindberg and Herr Fraenckell, he started from Dane's Island, Spitzbergen, July 11, 1897. His balloon was 67¼ feet in diameter, with a capacity of 170,000 cubic feet. Its speed was estimated at from 12 to 15 miles per hour, at which rate the Pole should have been reached in six days, providing a favorable and constant wind had been blowing. Two days after his departure, a message was received from Dr. Andrée by carrier pigeon, which stated that at noon, July 13, they were in latitude 82.2 degrees and longitude 15.5 degrees E., and making good progress to the E., 10 degrees southerly. This was the last word received from the explorer.


Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.