Schuyler Colfax Davisson was a Mathematics Professor at Indiana University from 1890-1938. He was born on January 2, 1866 in Galveston, Indiana, to David and Malvina (Barnhart) Davisson. He married Mary Wilson on December 20, 1890 and had one daughter, Lucy Davisson Murchie.

Dr. Davisson graduated from Indiana University with an AB in 1890 and an AM in 1892. When Dr. Davisson was a student he served as treasurer to the Independent Literary Society which was founded in November 1885 as a co-educational society admitting both men & women who were not members of a fraternity or sorority. Such students, known as "Barbs" (short for "Barbarians") at the time, opposed the Greek system's control of the university's literary societies, their monopolization of student elections, and thought that fraternities lead to a decline of the state of "social clubs". The Independent Literary Society combined both literary and social functions in its organization. After serving as an Assistant and Instructor in the Mathematics Department from 1890 to 1893, Davisson went on to serve as a Fellow at Clark University and then to the University of Tubingen in Germany, where he received his doctorate in 1900.

After returning to Indiana, Dr. Davisson went on to become a member of the Mathematics Department faculty, serving as Co-head (1909-1911) and Head (1911-1937) of the Department. From 1914 to 1919 he served as an IU faculty representative of the Western Intercollegiate Conference, which IU had been admitted to in 1899. He retired at the close of the 1937-1938 academic year. Professor Davisson passed away February 20, 1960.