Hjalmar Holand

Hjalmar Rued Holand was an early advocate for the theory that Vikings visited the New World 500 years before Christopher Columbus. Born in Norway in 1872, Holand emigrated to America with his parents in 1884. He received his BA from the University of Wisconsin in 1898, earning his MA the following year. Farming near Ephraim, Wisconsin, Holand nevertheless spent much of his time working to prove the authenticity of the Kensington Stone and other runestones and Viking relics found in North America. He was the author of numerous books on the topic. He died in 1963.