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The knowledge he thus acquired, both theoretical and practical, procured him the distinction of being appointed, at the early age of twenty-six, assistant professor of pure and applied physical science at the technical school.

At the age of twenty-eight, in 1892, he took part in a Swedish meteorological expedition to Spitzbergen. He wintered there until the next year, directing the experiments and observations on atmospheric electricity.

In 1884, Andrée was appointed chief engineer to the Patent Office,—being a newly created post,—and from 1886 to 1889 he occupied, at the same time, a professor’s chair at the technical school of Stockholm.

However, his position at the Patent Office, being a post of the highest importance, claimed all his time and energy, and Andrée found himself obliged to resign the professorship.

But he could not give up the idea of scientific aerostation, a problem which had always haunted his mind since his early youth.

The Swedish Academy of Science, which counts among its members famous men like A. Nordensjold, G. Retzius, G. Mittaz-Leffler, the mathematician, H. Hildebran and O. Montelius, the antiquarians, and others known and esteemed by the learned world, turned their attention to Andrée’s projects, and in 1892 he received from the Academy and the “L. J. Hjerta Memorial Foundation,” a subvention for the purpose of undertaking scientific aerial navigation—an honour which was unprecedented in Sweden.