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