Sigurður Reynir Gíslason, a research professor at the University of Iceland, and Grímur Sæmundsen, founder of the Blue Lagoon, were awarded the Asa Gudmundsdottir Wright Award yesterday. Halla Tómasdóttir, the President of Iceland, gave the award at a festive ceremony in Bessastaðir.
On the one hand, the award is given to an Icelandic scientist who has excelled in their field and has communicated their knowledge to advance Icelandic society. On the other hand, an award is given to an entrepreneur who has excelled in innovation. In doing so, a special emphasis is placed on the connection between science and innovation and their importance for the development and welfare of Icelandic society.
Sigurður Reynir Gíslason – A Leading Entrepreneur and Scientist
Sigurður Reynir Gíslason completed a bachelor’s degree in Geology from the University of Iceland in 1980 and a PhD in geochemistry from Hopkins University in the US in 1985. Since then, he has worked at the University of Iceland, at first as a scholar and scientist, and later as a research professor at the university’s Institute of Earth Sciences.
Sigurður is known internationally for his research on the Earth’s carbon cycle, carbon sequestration in rocks, and the effects of volcanic eruptions on air, water, and the biosphere. He has played a key role in the development and advancement of the CarbFix project, as a pioneer of a method to accelerate carbon sequestration in rock, and was chair of the project’s science council from its foundation in 2006 until 2020.
“Gas in rock,” Sigurður Reynir calls these great achievements won by CarbFix in the last years.
“This can be a part of solving the climate crisis facing us. To become carbon neutral by 2050, we need to decrease emissions to the atmosphere, but that just isn’t enough. Therefore, we need to take the carbon dioxide from coal- and gas-fired power stations, etc, industrial plants like aluminium plants and silicon metal plants, capture it and bring it down into the earth and sequester it so that it exits the carbon cycle for at least 500, if not 1000 years,” Sigurður Reynir says.
A Prolific Scientist
Sigurður Reynir and his colleagues have published roughly 200 peer-reviewed articles in international journals, as well as many book chapters. Additionally, he has authored many books in earth science, including Kolefnishringrásin, published by Hið íslenzka bókmenntafélag and Carbon Capture and Storage: From Global Cycles to Global Solutions, which he co-wrote with Eric H. Oelkers for the European Association of Geochemistry’s book series.
Sigurður Reynir has received numerous international awards for his work. He was elected into the National Academy of Sciences in the US in 2024 and into American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He had previously been elected a Fellow of the International Association of Geochemistry, as well as of the American and European geochemical societies, and he later served as President of the latter from 2019 to 2020.
Among his principal honours are the 2018 Clair C. Patterson Award of the Geochemical Society, regarded as one of the most prestigious distinctions in the field of geochemistry, and the Icelandic Order of the Falcon, which he received in 2020 for his contributions to earth sciences and carbon sequestration. He was also one of the winners of the Falling Walls Award in Physical Sciences in Berlin in 2021 and the first recipient of a distinction from the Þorsteinn Ingi Sigfússon Innovation Fund at the University of Iceland. In 2024, he was awarded the honorary title Kópavogur Champion (Eldhugi Kópavogs).
The research of Sigurður Reynir and his collaborators has had a significant impact on international discourse and the development of solutions in climate policy and carbon sequestration, establishing him as one of the leading geochemists of his generation.
