William Hovgaard (1857 – 1950) was a Danish-born American academic who specialized in studying naval architecture and shipbuilding at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology until his retirement in 1933.

He wrote several books on naval design and construction and the history thereof, but also on a diversity of other subjects, and he received a significant number of orders, awards and merits during his life.

His brother was Royal Danish Navy officer Andreas Peter Hovgaard, who led an Arctic survey expedition to the Kara Sea on the steamship Dijmphna from 1882 to 1883.

[1] According to Hovgaard's National Academy of Sciences biographical memoir,[2] His contribution to the shipbuilding art in this country, and particularly to the education of the officers of the Corps of Naval Constructors of the United States Navy, is incalculable.In 1912 he helped organize the American-Scandinavian Foundation, New York City, and was a Trustee and Vice-President until his death.

Books by Hovgaard on other subjects include The Voyages of the Norsemen to America[5] (1914) where he comments on this subject-matter based on his knowledge of ships and navigation.

Hovgaard wrote,"He landed on the shores of the cape at some point where there was a long, narrow beach outside a large expanse of water, a pond or a lagoon, into which he entered.