Haraldur Sigurðsson
Haraldur Sigurðsson or Haraldur Sigurdsson is an Icelandic volcanologist and geochemist.
Education
Sigurdsson was born in Stykkishólmur in western Iceland. He studied geology and geochemistry in the United Kingdom, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from Queen's University, Belfast, followed by a PhD under the supervision of George Malcolm Brown from Durham University in 1970.Career and research
Sigurdsson worked on monitoring and research of the volcanoes of the Caribbean until 1974, when he was appointed professor at the Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island. He is best known for his work on the reconstruction of major volcanic eruptions of the past, including the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD in Italy and the consequent destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.In 1991, Sigurdsson discovered tektite glass spherules at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary in Haiti, providing proof for a meteorite impact at the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs. In 2004 he discovered the lost town of Tambora in Indonesia, which was buried by the colossal 1815 explosive eruption of Tambora volcano. In 1999, Sigurdsson published a scholarly account of the history of volcanology. He was also editor in chief of the Encyclopedia of Volcanoes, also published in 1999. He was awarded the Coke Medal of the Geological Society of London in 2004.
Sigurdsson was a key scientist to uncover the sources of lake overturn that took the lives of entire villages nearby Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos in Cameroon. His story was popularized by the YouTuber MrBallen in an episode in January 2023.