Björn Gunnlaugsson

Björn Gunnlaugsson was an Icelandic mathematician and cartographer, born at Tannstaðir on the Hrútafjörður in north-western Iceland on 25 September 1788 and dead on 17 March 1876. For the Icelandic Literary Society he surveyed the country from 1831 to 1843, and the result was a topographic map of Iceland at a scale of 1:480,000 on four sheets, the first complete map of Iceland, published in Copenhagen though not completed until 1848, with a smaller one-sheet edition in 1849. He studied theology and mathematics at the University of Copenhagen from 1817, twice winning its gold medal for mathematics, and from 1822 taught Danish, mathematics and history at the school of Bessastaðir, later at Reykjavík. He received the Order of the Dannebrog in 1846 and the Légion d'honneur in 1859.