Icelandic geographer, born on the island of Flatey, in Breidifjördr, Iceland, on the 6th of June 1855, the son of Jón Thóroddsen, the poet and novelist. His father’s death in 1868 left the family in poor circumstances, but the boy went to school at Reykjavik and in 1875 to the university of Copenhagen, where he studied natural science and geography. In 1876 he was sent to Iceland by the Danish Government with Prof. Johnstrup to investigate the causes of the eruption which had occurred the previous year at Askja in Dyngjufjöll, and this proved the beginning of a long series of Icelandic explorations. In 1880 he was appointed master at the school of Mödruvellir in northern Iceland, and in 1882, 1883 and 1884 made extensive explorations in the interior. From 1884–86 he travelled in England and on the Continent, and in 1886 was appointed master of the school at Reykjavik. Until 1898 he made a journey of exploration nearly every year, the later expeditions being undertaken from Copenhagen, where he settled in 1895. Reports on his work appeared from time to time in the Danish Geografisk Tidskrift, but he also produced various important works, including Oversigt over de islandske Vulkaners Historie (1882); Vulcane im nordöstlichen Island (1891) and Landfraedissaga Islands (1892), a monumental work for which he collected material from the beginning of his career. Thóroddsen received many honours from universities and learned societies, and was awarded the gold medal of the Swedish and the La Roquette medal of the Paris Geographical Society.
