| William Jesse Goad Land | |
| Birth Date: | December 7, 1865 |
| Birth Place: | Alton, Illinois |
| Death Place: | Brownsville, Texas |
| Nationality: | American |
| Field: | Botany |
| Work Institutions: | University of Chicago |
| Alma Mater: | University of Chicago |
William Jesse Goad Land (December 7, 1865 – August 1, 1942) was an American botanist, inventor, and professor at the University of Chicago.
Land started taking botany classes at the University of Chicago in 1898. He earned his B.S. from the school in 1902, and his Ph.D. in 1904. He started working at the university as an assistant in morphology in 1904 and was promoted to an instructor in botany in 1908. He became assistant professor in 1911, associate professor in 1915, and a full professor in 1928. His teaching focused more heavily on laboratory studies instead of traditional lectures. He retired in 1931, but remained as an emeritus.[1]
Land was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of many other academic societies. Personally, he was a life member of the National Rifle Association and organized the University of Chicago Rifle Club.[1]
Land was also an accomplished inventor. He created formalin-aceto-alcohol and formalic-acetic-waterfixing agents for his laboratory studies. He also invented a telescopic sight mount for sniper rifles used by the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy.[1]