After graduating from high school in 1964 in
Reykjavík, Yngvason studied physics at
Göttingen University, obtaining his
Diploma in physics in 1969, and a doctorate (
dr.rer.nat) in 1973. His thesis advisor was
Hans-Jürgen Borchers. Yngvason was assistant professor at the University of Göttingen, 1973–1978, 1978–1985 research scientist at the Science Institute of the
University of Iceland, and during 1985–1996 professor of theoretical physics at the University of Iceland. In 1996, he became professor of mathematical physics at the University of Vienna, where he has been emeritus professor since October 2014. He was president of the Erwin Schrödinger Institute for Mathematical Physics (ESI) in Vienna, 1998-2003, and scientific director of the institute 2004–2011. He was vice-president of the
International Association of Mathematical Physics, 2000–2005, and editor-in-chief of
Reviews in Mathematical Physics, 2006-2010. He is a member of the Societas Scientiarum Islandica and corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen and the
Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters, Copenhagen. For their theoretical work in thermodynamics, Yngvason and Lieb received the
Levi Conant Prize of the
American Mathematical Society in 2002, for a paper on the mathematical explanation of the
second law of thermodynamics. In 2004, he received the
Erwin Schrödinger Prize of the
Austrian Academy of Sciences. ==Personal life==