Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, (born May 14, 1943, Ísafjördhur, Ice.), Icelandic educator and politician who became president of Iceland in 1996. He is known for his strong advocacy of environmental issues. Grímsson was born in a small fishing town on Iceland’s northwestern peninsula. He graduated from the Reykjavík Lyceum in 1962 and then studied in England, where he received a B.A. (1965) and a Ph.D. (1970) in political science from the University of Manchester. He returned home to become a lecturer in political science at the University of Iceland and was appointed professor in 1973.