Famous Norwegians / Norwegian-Americans

Here is a small sampling of famous Norwegians and famous Americans of Norwegian decent. Another good page on this topic can be found here.

Entertainers

• James Arness: actor on "Gunsmoke"
• James Cagney: actor
• Linda Evans: actress
• Peter Graves: actor
• Robert Mitchum: actor
• F. Melius Christiansen: founded choir at St. Olaf College and introduced "a cappella" singing to the United States

Scientists, Engineers and Explorers

• Gunvald Aus and Kort Berle: designed and constructed Woolworth Building and U.S. Customs House in New York City
• Dr. Norman E. Borlaug: won 1970 Peace Prize for agricultural work
• Sverre Dahm: became a leading engineer assisting with construction of New York subways
• Ole Evinrude: invented first practical outboard motor
• Dr. Conrad Elvehjem: discovered niacin (vitamin B) in 1937 and later became president of the University of Wisconsin
• Bernt Balchen: first flight over South Pole in 1929 and established American air bases in Greenland
• Ernest O. Lawrence: received Nobel Prize for physics in 1939 for the cyclotron
• Ole Singstad: planned and constructed Holland Tunnel between Manhattan and New Jersey, designed Lincoln Tunnel from New Jersey to Manhattan and Queens Midtown Tunnel under New York
• Donald Kent Slayton: astronaut chosen for first international manned space flight, 1975

Athletes

• Knute Rockne: football coach
• Sonja Henie: ice skater and actress
• Babe Didrikson Zaharias: broke several records in 1932 Olympics and became a golf champion
• Torger Tokle: ski-jumping champion
• Jan Stenerud: inducted into Football Hall of Fame

Journalists

• Victor F. Lawson: was co-founder and president of Associated Press
• Eric Sevareid: journalist, European correspondent during WWII and news analyst for CBS

Politicians

• Hubert H. Humphrey: former vice president of United States
• Henry Jackson: U.S. Senator for the state of Washington
• Walter Mondale: vice president of the United States, ambassador to Japan
• Janet Reno: United States Attorney General
• Knute Nelson: was first Norwegian to serve in congress

Other Historical Figures

• Earl Warren: former Chief Justice of Supreme Court
• John Brygger: started salmon fisheries on Puget Sound in 1876
• Dr. Adolph Gunderson: surgeon who founded a clinic in La Crosse, Wisconsin
• J. C. M. Hanson: founded Library of Congress cataloging system
• Col. Hans C. Heg: head of Scandinavian regiment in Civil War
• Dr. Ludvig Hektoen: was distinguished in cancer research
• Conrad Hilton: owner of Hilton Hotels
• Dr. C. Walton Lillehei: pioneered in open heart surgery
• General Lauris Norstad: was Allied commander of NATO in 1956-63
• Col. Porter C. Olson: captain of mostly Norwegian company in Civil War
• Sidney A. Rand: president of St. Olaf College and ambassador to Norway