Russell M. (Russell Morse) Wilder

Born in 1885, Russell Morse Wilder was an American physician and researcher associated with the Mayo Clinic. He studied medicine at the University of Michigan and went on to build a career focused on metabolism, diabetes, and nutrition, becoming a respected figure in internal medicine.

Wilder is especially remembered for proposing and developing the ketogenic diet in the early 1920s as a way to mimic the effects of fasting in patients with epilepsy. That idea became one of the most influential non-drug treatments in epilepsy care and remains part of medical practice today.

Alongside this work, he contributed to research on diabetes and human nutrition and helped shape the growing field of diet-based therapy. He died in 1959, leaving behind a legacy tied both to the Mayo Clinic and to the long history of therapeutic nutrition.