Smithsonian Journeys Experts

Smithsonian Journeys Expert Scott Mellor, is professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the current president of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, the national society for Scandinavian Studies academics. For the past 25 years he has taught courses on the Vikings, Sagas, and medieval Scandinavia as well as Scandinavian folklore, a course called Nordic Storyteller, and History of Scandinavia to 1815. His primary research is on the oral tradition in the medieval Icelandic poetic edda.  Since 2000 he has also been collecting ship narratives from Åland, a Swedish speaking island in Finland, as part of a folklore oral history project. His interest in storytelling is reflected in his academic articles on the Poetic Eddaand on the writings of Hans Christian Andersen. Scott has brought his research interest and expertise to several TV shows on the History channel on the Vikings and medieval mythology, including Clash of the Gods: Thor (2009), Clash of the Gods: Tolkien’s Monsters (2009), Ancient Aliens: The Viking Gods (2013), Unexplained: Mysteries of the Vikings (2023), and a new series called Extreme Warriors: The Vikings (2024).