None of the encounters I’ve had with Kári Stefánsson have been pleasant. I remember taking a walk with him in Heidelberg many years ago, when I was a PhD student. The weather was foul. He was grumpier than the drizzle and my questions about the talk he had just given warranted. He is a good speaker but difficult to talk with.
Some years after that, I saw him give a speech at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics. He forcefully denounced those who pervert human genetics for their own narrow-minded and hateful goals, for which he received a standing ovation the like of which I haven’t seen at any scientific meeting before or after.
Stefánsson is a living legend among human geneticists. He started the original human genetics company, deCODE Genetics, in 1996. Back then, this sort of enterprise was completely unheard of. Even the choice of location was unusual: he started deCODE in his native Iceland. This made sense since Iceland has an unusual population history that makes it particularly suitable for genetic studies, but it was still a bold choice since Iceland, compared to the United States, had little existing research infrastructure. In some ways, deCODE was a success and the model has been replicated many times since. 23andMe, UK Biobank and FinnGen all followed the same path. For years, deCODE was a poster child for commercialising genomics. Then, in 2009, they made headlines by spectacularly going bust. They have since been acquired and integrated into the pharmaceutical giant Amgen. A few months ago, after almost 30 years at the company he founded, Stefánsson was involuntarily and inelegantly retired.
Another reason for Stefánsson’s notoriety, besides his scientific and entrepreneurial achievements, is his pugnacious personality. I’ve heard many anecdotes about him over the years. I have no idea which ones are true, but they all paint the same picture.
He is known to have multiple ongoing lawsuits at any given time. At one point, he had lawsuits with the current builders of his home, the former builders, and his former lawyers who failed to reach a satisfactory outcome with the former builders.
When asked about a disagreement with the then-leader of Iceland, Sigmundur Davíð, he replied, “I have no rivalry with the prime minister. Why should I have a rivalry with this obese two-year-old little boy?” He later apologized for saying this.
He prohibited all of deCODE from using a major Icelandic airline in retaliation for being asked to get off his cell-phone during take-off.
There are several stories of him locking people into and out of meeting rooms as he sees fit.
While writing this, I searched for but couldn’t find another collection of Stefánsson anecdotes anywhere, but I’m sure eventually someone will compile one. I have no doubt a biography is in the works.
While science attracts originals and eccentrics, we need more of them. They don’t only provide entertainment value (not to be underestimated), but as Stefánsson shows, they often also do the most interesting work.
Nehaveigur 