Thor Heyerdahl

Thor Heyerdahl was born on October 6, 1914, in Larvik, Norway. Trained in zoology and geography at the University of Oslo, his field studies in Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas Islands led him to theorize that indigenous South Americans could have crossed the Pacific and settled Polynesia before European contact.

To prove the physical possibility of his thesis, Heyerdahl and five companions constructed the balsa-wood raft Kon-Tiki using indigenous Peruvian designs and sailed 4,300 miles from Callao, Peru, to the Tuamotu Islands in 1947. His documentary film won an Academy Award in 1951, and his book became an international best-seller translated into dozens of languages. He subsequently led the Ra and Ra II papyrus boat voyages across the Atlantic and the Tigris reed ship expedition through the Persian Gulf, championing environmental protection and international peace.