Stefan Einarsson, Professor of Scandinavian Philology at The Johns Hopkins University, was born June 9, 1897 in Iceland. He studied at the College of Reykjavik, the University of Iceland (M.A. 1923), the University of Helsingfors, Finland and the University of Oslo, Norway. He obtained his doctorate from the latter institution in 1927. In that same year he came to the United States and to Johns Hopkins as a Research Fellow. He was named instructor in English Philology in 1928, Associate in 1932, Associate Professor in 1936 and Professor of Scandinavian Philology in 1945.

Einarsson was appointed Vice Consul of Iceland in Baltimore in 1942 and became Consul in 1952. He became a Knight of the Order of Icelandic Falcon in 1939. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society, Modern Language Association of America, Linguistic Society of America, Icelandic National League of Winnipeg, Icelandic Literary Society, Icelandic Society of Science, and the American Scandinavian Foundation.

He was a noted authority in the fields of Old and Middle English, and Icelandic and Germanic dialects. Among his numerous writings were A Specimen of Southern Icelandic Speech, History of Icelandic Prose Writers, and A History of Icelandic Literature. Einarsson was the author of a Linguaphone Icelandic Course, the co-editor of 20th Century Scandinavian Poetry, cooperating editor of the Journal of English and Germanic Philology, and editor-in-chief of the Old Icelandic Dictionary.

Stefan Einarsson was married to the former Ingibjorg Arnadottir. Stefan Einarsson died in Reykjavik on April 12, 1972, aged 75 years.