Sveinn Pálsson

Sveinn Pálsson was an Icelandic physician and a naturalist who carried out systematic observations of Icelandic glaciers in the 1790s. He also observed volcanoes and wildlife throughout his homeland.

During his research he observed that glaciers move by creep in a way analogous to the flow of pitch. He focused on glacial sediments, melt-water rivers and floods, and the effects of subglacial volcanism. His conclusions concerned significant findings in regards to formation and dynamics of glaciers. His treatise "Draft of a Physical, Geographical, and Historical Description of Icelandic Ice Mountains on the Basis of a Journey to the Most Prominent of Them in 17921794" was submitted to the Danish Society of Natural History in 1795 though it languished there for almost a century. Not until the 1880s was the Danish manuscript published in part; in 1945 it was published in its entirety in Icelandic. Due to its isolated location Iceland remained a remote location for geological investigation until the 20th century.

References

Sveinn Pálsson. Draft of a Physical, Geographical, and Historical Description of Icelandic Ice Mountains on the Basis of a Journey to the Most Prominent of Them in 17921794, with Four Maps and Eight Perspective Drawings. Edited and translated by Richard S. Williams, Jr., and Oddur Sigurðsson. xxxvi + 183 pp., illus., figs., bibl. Reykjavik: Icelandic Literary Society, 2004.