Short answers, pulled from the story.
Rasmus Bjørn Anderson (1846-1936) was an American author, professor, editor, businessman, and diplomat from Wisconsin. He is best known for popularizing the idea that Norse explorers were the first Europeans to reach the New World, and for originating the movement that led to Leif Erikson Day becoming a federal observance.
Anderson was the originator of the movement to establish Leif Erikson Day as an American holiday. Through his efforts, the day became an official observance in Wisconsin and other states during his lifetime. Decades after his death in 1936, it became a federal observance by presidential proclamation in 1964.
Anderson published America Not Discovered by Columbus in 1874, arguing that Norse explorers preceded Columbus as the first Europeans in the New World. He returned to the subject with The Norse Discovery of America in 1907.
Anderson was a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1867 to 1883. He founded the Department of Scandinavian Studies there, which became the oldest such department at any American university.
Anderson was born on the 12th of January 1846 in the Town of Albion in Dane County, Wisconsin. His parents were Norwegian immigrants from Sandeid and Vikedal in the Ryfylke district of Rogaland, Norway, who came to America as part of a group of Quaker sympathizers in 1836.
Anderson served as the United States Ambassador to Denmark from 1885 to 1889. After returning to the United States, he went on to edit the Norwegian-language weekly Amerika from 1898 to 1922 and the Norrœna Library from 1905 to 1907.