Category: History
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50 years ago today: A new island is born
50 years ago today, a new island was born, off the southern coast of Iceland. The new island was named Surtsey, after Surtr, a fire jötunn or giant from Norse mythology. It was intensively studied by volcanologists during its eruption, and afterwards by botanists and biologists as life forms gradually colonised the originally barren island.…
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The day Neil Armstrong set his foot on Iceland
In the summer of 1967, a group of American astronauts visited Iceland to study the islands’ geology under the guidance of Icelandic and American geologists. This was the second group of astronauts to visit Iceland, the first group had been there two years earlier. One of the young men who set foot on Iceland on…