Scientists From Wisconsin

Mathematician and computer scientist Donald Ervin Knuth is best known for his contribution to the development of the rigorous analysis of the computational complexity of algorithms. Also the creator of the TeX computer typesetting system as well as the WEB and CWEB computer programming systems, he has published twenty books, most significant among them being The Art of Computer Programming.

American engineer, physicist and Nobel laureate John Bardeen is the only person who received the Nobel Prize in Physics twice. He shared the first Nobel with William Shockley and Walter Brattain in 1956 for inventing the transistor, and the second with Leon N Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer in 1972 for proposing the BCS theory, a microscopic theory of superconductivity.

Walter Bradford Cannon was an American physiologist best remembered for his association with Harvard Medical School, where he served as chairman and professor of the Department of Physiology. Walter Bradford Cannon is credited with developing the theory of homeostasis and coining the term fight-or-flight response. 

American biophysicist/biochemist and Yale University professor Thomas A. Steitz is best known for his Nobel Prize-winning work on the structure and function of ribosomes. The Harvard alumnus has also worked at molecular biology lab at Cambridge and has co-founded a pharma company that creates antibiotics based on ribosomes.

Franklin Hiram King was an agricultural scientist best known for his first-hand account of such agricultural practices that are considered today as standard organic farming practices. From 1888 to 1902, he also served as a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he taught agricultural physics. During his career, King made significant contributions to agriculture.

Alexander Wetmore was an American avian paleontologist and ornithologist who served as the Secretary of the popular Smithsonian Institution from 1945 to 1952. He also served as the president of The Explorers Club from 1944 to 1946. Alexander Wetmore is also remembered for his influential 4-volume book, Birds of the Republic of Panama.

Born to German immigrants in New York, Amadeus William Grabau had initially apprenticed as a bookbinder and later studied geology at MIT and Harvard. His research on stratigraphy and paleoecology in China earned him the title of the father of Chinese geology. He has also worked for the Japanese Army.

Electrical-engineer-turned-astronomer Harold D. Babcock had worked at the Mt. Wilson Observatory throughout his life and was one of its first staff members. A specialist in solar spectroscopy, he is remembered for his research on the Sun’s magnetic fields, along with his son, Horace W. Babcock.