Umberto Nobile
Italian aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer (1885-1978)
Key facts
- Parliamentary group
- Communist
- Constituency
- Lazio
- Born
- ( 1885-01-21 ) 21 January 1885, Lauro , Italy
- Died
- 30 July 1978 (1978-07-30) (aged 93), Rome , Italy
- Resting place
- Cimitero Flaminio , Rome
- Party
- Independent
- Spouses
- Carlotta Ferraiolo ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1916 ; died 1934 ) Gertrude Stolp ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1959 ) (1917-1999)
- Children
- Maria
- Alma mater
- University of Naples Federico II
- Occupation
- Aviator, university professor
- Known for
- Polar expeditions of Norge and Italia
- Committees
Article
Umberto Nobile ( Italian pronunciation: [umˈbɛrto ˈnɔːbile]; 21 January 1885 – 30 July 1978) was an Italian aviator, aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer.
Nobile was a developer and promoter of semi-rigid airships in the years between the two World Wars. He is primarily remembered for designing and piloting the airship Norge, which may have been the first aircraft to reach the North Pole, and which was indisputably the first to fly across the polar ice cap from Europe to America. Nobile also designed and flew the Italia, a second polar airship; this second expedition ended in a deadly crash and provoked an international rescue effort, some participants of which also lost their lives or went missing and presumed dead.