Sven Rubenson was born in 1921 in Sweden and educated at the University of Lund where he submitted his L.Phil. dissertation on Ethiopian history in 1954. He has been a missionary, teacher, and educational administrator in Ethiopia since 1947 and was Headmaster of the Ethiopian Evangelical College, Debre Zeyt from 1953 to 1958. He also taught at what is now Addis Ababa University in the history department at the University College and Haile Sellasie I University in the 1960’s. Currently he resides in Sweden with his wife Britta, while working on Acta Aethiopica Vol. IV.

His publications include Wichale XVII: the attempt to establish a protectorate over Ethiopia (1964); King of Kings: Tewodros of Ethiopia (1966); Acta Aethiopica Vol. I: Correspondence and Treaties 1800-1854 (1987); Acta Aethiopica Vol. II: Tewodros and His Contemporaries 1855-1868 (1994), and Acta Aethiopica Vol. III: Internal Rivalries and Foreign Threats 1869-1879 (2000).