Iceland has 10 of the world’s top scientists

Iceland has ten of the world’s 3,000 most influential scientific minds – a share out of all proportion to the country’s tiny population.

The Thomson Reuters’ list of World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds 2014 was first published last year. Iceland then had eight representatives on the list.

The two newcomers are Vilmundur Guðnason, Professor at the University of Iceland and Head Physician at the Icelandic Heart Association, and Albert Vernon Smith, Geneticist at Icelandic Heart Association and Visiting Professor at the University of Iceland.

Six of the ten scientists in Iceland honoured by Thomson Reuters work at Icelandic biopharmaceutical company deCODE genetics (link in Icelandic).

“The performance of Icelandic scientists on the list is wonderful recognition of the success of science in Iceland,” reads a statement from the University of Iceland. “Three of the ten are University of Iceland professors and five are research staff.”

The list features scientists in the top 1% of most quoted scientists in their field.

The Icelandic scientists making the cut this year are:

• Albert Vernon Smith, Icelandic Heart Association/University of Iceland
• Augustine Kong, deCODE genetics/University of Iceland
• Bernharð Ö. Pálsson, UCSD/University of Iceland
• Daníel F. Guðbjartsson, deCODE genetics/University of Iceland
• Guðmar Þorleifsson, deCODE genetics
• Kári Stefánsson, deCODE genetics/University of Iceland
• Þorsteinn Loftsson, University of Iceland
• Unnur Þorsteinsdóttir, deCODE genetics/University of Iceland
• Valgerður Steinþórsdóttir, deCODE genetics
• Vilmundur Guðnason, Icelandic Heart Association/University of Iceland