Sigurður awarded membership of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Sigurður Reynir Gíslason, geochemist and research professor at the University of Iceland's Institute of Earth Sciences has been awarded with an honorary membership of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his work in the field of earth sciences. 

The academy serves a dual purpose. One is to award and celebrate outstanding scientists, artists and leaders, the other is to serve as a platform where scientists and specialists from different sciences and professions deal with global challenges. The academy was founded in 1780 and has counted a large number of significant people among its members, including Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Margaret Mead, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Martha Graham, Georgia O’Keeffe and Madeleine Albright. 

This year 250, new members were chosen in 31 different fields, most of them American. The list includes the Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, the actor and director George Clooney, and Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. Sigurður Reynir is among 25 international honorary members selected at this time and thus joins the impressive ranks of international members, featuring such luminaries as Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Wislawa Szyborska, Gabriel Garcia Márquez, Nelson Mandela, and Claude Jean Allegre.

A man with many prizes

The circulation of carbon on Earth has been a key concern in Sigurður Reynir and his team’s research; the binding of carbon in rock and the impact of volcanic activity on the atmosphere, water and organisms. He, along with his colleagues, has authored over one hundred and fifty articles in international journals as well as books in the field of earth sciences. The latest of these is Carbon Capture and Storage: From Global Cycles to Global Solutions, with co-author Eric H. Oelker.

Sigurður Reynir has received many awards for his work. He is a Fellow of the International Geochemical Society, as well as in the American and European societies in the same field. He received the C.C. Patterson Award from the American Geochemical Society in 2018, one of the most prestigious recognitions in geochemistry. Furthermore, Sigurður Reynir received the Order of the Falcon for his contribution to Icelandic earth sciences and carbon sequestering in 2020.  He was one of the Falling Walls 2021 Winner in Physical Science in Berlin and the same year he was the first recipient of recognition from the Þorsteinn Ingi Sigfússon Innovation Fund at the University of Iceland. 

Sigurður Reynir completed a BS degree in geology from the University of Iceland in 1980 and a PhD in geochemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1985. Since then, he has worked at the University of Iceland.

Sigurður will be formally accepted into the Academy at a ceremony in the Academy’s hometown, Cambridge Massachusetts in September. 

Sigurður’s website