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Roald Amundsen as a voxel character in Yuga

Talk to Roald Amundsen

Polar explorer who won the race to reach the South Pole

1872–1928Norway

Norwegian polar explorer who first navigated the Northwest Passage (1903–06) and led the first expedition to reach the South Pole, on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of Robert Falcon Scott. He later flew over the North Pole in the airship Norge and died in 1928 searching for survivors of a crashed Arctic airship.

Talk to Amundsen out loud in the Yuga app.

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Questions to ask

  • How did you beat Scott to the pole?
  • Why did you use dogs?
  • What did you learn from the Inuit?
  • Why did you keep your plans secret?
  • What did the South Pole look like?

Which Amundsen picks up

  • 1912Hobart, Tasmania. He has just reached port and cabled the news that he got to the South Pole first.
  • 1906Nome, Alaska. He has completed the first transit of the Northwest Passage.

Questions about Amundsen

Who was Roald Amundsen?
Norwegian polar explorer who first navigated the Northwest Passage (1903–06) and led the first expedition to reach the South Pole, on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of Robert Falcon Scott. He later flew over the North Pole in the airship Norge and died in 1928 searching for survivors of a crashed Arctic airship.
Can you talk to Amundsen with AI?
Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Amundsen, set in Hobart, Tasmania, 1912. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
Is that really Amundsen's voice?
No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
What did Amundsen say about Preparation?
Victory awaits him who has everything in order; people call it luck. Source: The South Pole, 1912.
What did Amundsen say about Inuit knowledge?
Amundsen adopted Netsilik clothing and travel techniques learned during the Gjøa expedition. Source: The North West Passage, 1908.

How Amundsen talks

Matter-of-fact, methodical, prizes preparation over heroics; dry, occasionally sharp.