List of geologists

A geologist is a contributor to the science of geology. Geologists are also known as earth scientists or geoscientists.

The following is a list of famous or notable geologists. Many have received such awards as the Penrose Medal, the Wollaston Medal, or have been inducted into the National Academy of Sciences or the Royal Society.

Geoscience specialties represented include geochemistry, geophysics, geomorphology, glaciology, hydrology, hydrogeology, oceanography, mineralogy, petrology, crystallography, paleontology, paleobotany, paleoclimatology, palynology, sedimentology, soil science, stratigraphy, and volcanology. In this list, the person listed is a geologist unless another specialty is noted.

A

Louis Agassiz

• Vladimir Abazarov (1930-2003), Soviet geologist, discoverer of Samotlor oil field
• Aziz Ab'Saber (born 1924), Brazilian geomorphologist
• Otto Wilhelm Hermann von Abich (1806–1886), German mineralogist
• Louis Agassiz (1807–1873), Swiss-American geologist, work on ice ages, glaciers, Lake Agassiz
• Georgius Agricola (Georg Bauer) (1494–1555), German naturalist and 'Father of Mineralogy', author of De re metallica
• Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522–1605), Italy, Renaissance naturalist
• Claude Allègre (born 1937), French geochemist
• Fernando Flávio Marques de Almeida (born 1919) Brazilian geologist
• Walter Alvarez (born 1940), USA, author of T. Rex and the Crater of Doom
• J. Willis Ambrose, first President of Geological Association of Canada
• Roy Chapman Andrews (1884–1960), American explorer and naturalist; Mongolian dinosaurs
• Mary Anning (1799–1847), England, pioneer fossil collector
• Adolphe d'Archiac (1802–1868), French paleontologist
• Giovanni Arduino (1714–1795), Italian, first classification of geological time
• Richard Lee Armstrong (1937–1991), American/Canadian geochemist
• Tanya Atwater, California, USA geophysicist, marine geologist, plate tectonics specialist

B

Florence Bascom, 1893

• Andrew Geddes Bain (1797–1864), South Africa, prepared first detailed geological map of South Africa
• Robert T. Bakker (born 1945), American dinosaur paleontologist; author, The Dinosaur Heresies
• Octávio Barbosa (1907–1997), Brazilian field geologist, prospector
• Thomas Barger (1909–1986), USA, Saudi geologist and CEO of Aramco
• Anthony R. Barringer (born 1925), Canadian/American geophysicist and inventor
• Florence Bascom (1862–1945), USA, first woman geologist at the US Geological Survey
• Robert Bell (1841–1917), considered Canada’s greatest explorer-scientist
• Walter A. Bell (1889–1969), Canadian paleobotanist and stratigrapher
• Etheldred Benett (1776–1845), England, pioneer paleontologist
• Pierre Berthier (1782–1861), French geologist, discovered the properties of bauxite
• Selwyn G. Blaylock (1879–1945), Canadian chemist and mining executive with Cominco
• Stewart Blusson (born 1939), Canada, co-discoverer of Ekati Diamond Mine
• Bruce Bolt (1930–2005), USA (born Australia), pioneer engineering seismologist in California
• José Bonaparte (born 1928), Argentine paleontologist, discovered many South American dinosaurs
• William Borlase (1696–1772), Cornish natural historian, studied the minerals of Cornwall
• Norman L. Bowen (1887–1956), Canada, pioneer experimental petrologist
• Scipione Breislak (1748–1826), Italian mineralogist and geologist, pioneer of volcanic gas collection
• J Harlen Bretz (1882–1981), USA, discovered origin of channeled scablands
• Wallace S. Broecker (born 1931), American paleoclimatologist and chemical oceanographer
• Robert Broom (1866–1951), South African palaeontologist, discovered australopithecine hominid fossils
• Barnum Brown (1873–1963), USA, dinosaur hunter and self-taught paleontologist
• Christian Leopold von Buch (1774–1853), German geologist and paleontologist
• William Buckland (1784–1856), England, wrote the first full account of a fossil dinosaur
• B. Clark Burchfiel, MIT structural geologist, currently studying Tibetan plateau

C

Edward Drinker Cope

• Stephen E. Calvert, Canadian professor, geologist, oceanographer
• Colin Campbell (born 1931), British petroleum geologist and Peak Oil theorist
• Neil Campbell (1914–1978), Canada, Northwest Territories mineral exploration
• Samuel Warren Carey (born 1911), Australia, continental drift proponent and later developed Expanding Earth hypothesis
• Petr Černý, Czech/Canadian mineralogist
• Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois (1820–1886), France, geologist and mineralogist
• George V. Chilingar, USA, distinguished international petroleum geologist
• Václav Cílek (born 1955), Czech geologist and science popularizer
• John J. Clague, Canada, Quaternary and geological hazards expert
• Thomas H. Clark (1893–1996), Canada, co-author of The Geological Evolution of North America (1960)
• William Branwhite Clarke (1798–1878), Australia (born England), discovered gold in New South Wales, 1841
• Peter Clift (born 1966), United Kingdom, Marine geologist, monsoon researcher
• Hans Cloos (1885–1951), German structural geologist
• Lorence G. Collins, (born 1931), USA, petrologist, discoveries on metasomatism
• Simon Conway Morris (born 1951), palaeontologist and writer
• William Conybeare (1787–1857), England, author of Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales (1822)
• Isabel Clifton Cookson (1893–1973), Australian paleobotanist and palynologist
• Edward Drinker Cope (1840–1897), USA, pioneer dinosaur paleontologist; Bone Wars competitor
• Charles Andrew Cotton (1885–1970), New Zealand, geologist and geomorphologist
• James Croll (1821–1890) Scottish scientist who developed the theory of climate change based on changes in the Earth's orbit.
• Georges Cuvier (1769–1832), France, proponent of catastrophism

D

Charles Darwin, c.1860

• G. Brent Dalrymple (born 1937), USA, author The Age of the Earth (1991), winner National Science Medal, 2005
• James Dwight Dana (1813–1895), USA, author of System of Mineralogy (1837)
• Charles Darwin (1809–1882), British naturalist, author of On the Origin of Species
• George Mercer Dawson (1849–1901), Canada, pioneer Yukon geologist
• John William Dawson (1820–1899), Canada, pioneer Acadian geologist
• Henry De la Beche (1796–1855), England, first director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain
• Duncan R. Derry (1906–1987), Canadian economic geologist
• Nicolas Desmarest (1725–1815), France, pioneer volcanologist
• William R. Dickinson (born 1930), Arizona, USA, plate tectonics, Colorado Plateau
• Robert S. Dietz (1914–1995), USA, seafloor spreading pioneer
• Ignacy Domeyko (1802–1889), Slavic-Chilean geologist and mineralogist
• Robert John Wilson Douglas (1920–1979), Canadian petroleum geologist
• Aleksis Dreimanis (born 1914), Latvia & Canada, award-winning Quaternary geologist
• Hugo Dummett ((1940 - 2002), South African mineral-exploration geologist, co-discoverer of Ekati Diamond Mine.
• Alexander du Toit (1878–1948), South African geologist, established correlations between Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and South Africa
• Clarence Edward Dutton (1841–1912), USA, author of Tertiary History of the Grand Canyon District

E

Maurice Ewing, 1948

• Heinz Ebert (1907–1983), Germany-Brazil, Geologist, petrologist
• Niles Eldredge (born 1943), American paleontologist; theory of punctuated equilibrium
• Jean-Baptiste Élie de Beaumont (1798–1874), France, prepared first geological map of France
• W. G. Ernst (born 1931), USA, Stanford petrologist and geochemist
• Robert Etheridge, Junior (1847–1920), Australian (born England) paleontologist, longtime curator of the Australian Museum
• Raul-Yuri Ervier (1909-1991), Soviet geologist, an eminent organizer and head of wide-ranging geological explorations that discovered of the largest oil and gas fields in Western Siberia
• Maurice Ewing (1906–1974), USA, pioneering geophysicist and oceanographer

F

• Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (1741–1819), France, pioneer volcanologist
• Mikhail A. Fedonkin (born 1946), awarding winning Russian paleontologist
• Walter Frederick Ferrier (1865–1950), Canada, mineral collector
• Frederick C. Finkle (1865-1949), American consulting engineer and geologist
• Charles E. Fipke (born 1946), Canada, co-discoverer of Ekati Diamond Mine
• Richard Fortey (born 1946), England, trilobite paleontologist, author
• Yves O. Fortier (born 1914), Canada, High Arctic explorer
• Gillian Foulger British, professor of geophysics at Durham University
• William Fyfe (born 1927, New Zealand), Canada, geochemist

G

Grove Karl Gilbert

• Hubert Gabrielse, Canadian field geologist
• Robert Garrels (1916–1988), American geochemist, revolutionized aqueous geochemistry
• Archibald Geikie (1835–1924), Scotland, geologist
• Grove Karl Gilbert (1843–1918), USA, influential Western geologist
• James E. Gill (1901–1980), Canada, McGill University professor, explorer
• Victor Goldschmidt (1888–1947), Norway (born Switzerland), a founder of modern geochemistry
• John Gosse, Canadian geomorphologist
• Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002), American paleontologist and writer
• L. C. Graton (1880–1970), USA, Harvard economic geologist
• Alexander Henry Green (1832–1896), England, surveyed Derbyshire and Yorkshire
• George Bellas Greenough (1778–1855), England, gentlemanly geologist, founding member and first President of the Geological Society
• Djalma Guimarães (1894–1973), Brazilian geologist, mineralogist
• Henry C. Gunning (1901–1991), Canada (born Northern Ireland), British Columbia geologist

H

James Hutton

• Julius von Haast (1824–1887), New Zealand (born Germany), founded Canterbury Museum
• Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet (1761–1832), Scottish geologist, president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
• James Hall (1811–1898), USA, geologist and paleontologist
• W. Brian Harland (1917–2003), England, polar geologist
• Geoffrey Hattersley-Smith (born 1923), England and Canada, polar geologist
• Thomas Hawkins (1810–1889), English fossil collector
• James Edwin Hawley (1897–1965), Canada, studied mineralogy of ore deposits
• Frank Hawthorne (born 1946), Canadian mineralogist and crystallographer
• Richard L. Hay (1929–2006), American geologist.
• Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden (1829–1887), USA, pioneer Western geologist
• Hollis Dow Hedberg (1903–1988), American geologist
• Bruce Heezen (1924–1977), American geologist who first mapped the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
• Jean de Heinzelin de Braucourt (1920–1998), Belgian geologist, discoverer of the Ishango bone in 1960
• Sue Hendrickson (born 1949), American paleontologist; discoverer of "Sue", the largest Tyrannosaurus rex ever found
• Harry Hammond Hess (1906–1969), American geologist and oceanographer
• Henry Hicks (1837–1899), FRS, President of the Geological Society.
• Pattillo Higgins (1863–1955), USA, known as the "Prophet of Spindletop"
• Eugene W. Hilgard (1833–1916), USA (born Germany), soil scientist
• Robert T. Hill (1858-1941), American geologist, Cretaceous deposits of Central Texas
• Claude Hillaire-Marcel (born 1944), Canada (born France), Quaternary geologist
• Paul F. Hoffman (born 1941), USA and Canada, Snowball Earth theorist
• Arthur Holmes (1890–1965), England, author of Principles of Physical Geology
• Jack Horner (born 1946), American dinosaur paleontologist
• Kenneth J. Hsu (born 1929), USA (born China), author of The Mediterranean was a Desert
• M. King Hubbert (1903–1989), USA, originator of "Peak Oil" theory
• James Hutton (1726–1797), Scottish geologist, father of modern geology

I

• Edward A. Irving (born 1927), Canadian, used paleomagnetism to support continental drift theory

J

David A. Johnston at Mount St. Helens, 5-17-1980

• James A. Jensen (1911–1998), USA, distinguished dinosaur paleontologist and sculptor
• Dougal Jerram (1969– ), UK British geologist/earth scientist, television and media presenter and author
• David A. Johnston (1949–1980), USA, volcanologist, killed in the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens
• Franc Joubin (1911–1997), Canada (born USA), discovered Elliot Lake uranium district

K

• Michael John Keen (1935–1991), Atlantic Canada, marine geoscientist
• Clarence King (1893–1971), USA, first director of the U.S. Geological Survey
• James Kitching (1922–2003), South Africa, Karoo vertebrate palaeontologist
• Sir Albert Ernest Kitson (1868–1937), Australian (born England) economic geologist, mineral exploration in Africa
• Maria Klenova (1898–1976) Russian marine geologist
• Andrew H. Knoll (born 1951), USA, Harvard geologist and paleontologist
• Alan S. Kornacki (born 1952), USA, Harvard meteoriticist and geochemist for Royal Dutch Shell
• Danie G. Krige (born 1919), South African mining engineer, inventor of kriging
• M. S. Krishnan (1898–1970), Indian geologist, author of Geology of India and Burma
• Thomas Edvard Krogh (1936–2008), Canada, geochronologist, revolutionized uranium-lead radiometric dating
• William C. Krumbein (1902–1979), USA, sedimentologist
• Nikolai Kudryavtsev (1893–1971), Russian petroleum geologist

L

Joseph LeConte

• Charles Lapworth (1842–1920), English Geologist, defined the Ordovician Period
• Andrew Lawson (1861–1952), USA (born Scotland), named San Andreas fault
• Richard Leakey (born 1944), Kenyan paleontologist
• Joseph LeConte (1823–1901), USA, first professor of geology, University of California
• Robert Legget (1904–1994), Canadian non-fiction writer, civil engineer, pedologist
• Inge Lehmann (1888–1993), Danish seismologist, discovered Lehmann discontinuity
• Luna Leopold (1915–2006), eminent American hydrologist
• Xavier Le Pichon (born 1937), French plate tectonics geophysicist
• Waldemar Lindgren (1860–1939), distinguished Swedish-American economic geologist
• Li Shizhen (1518–1593), Ming Dynasty Chinese mineralogist, author of the Ben Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica)
• Martin Lister (c. 1638–1712), England, pioneer geologist
• William Edmond Logan (1798–1875), Canada, founded Geological Survey of Canada
• Fred Longstaffe, Canada, Provost of University of Western Ontario
• Sir Charles Lyell (1797–1875), Scottish geologist, popularized principle of uniformitarianism

M

Andrija Mohorovičić, c.1880

• William Maclure (1763–1840), published first geologic map of USA (1809)
• J. Ross Mackay (born 1915), Canadian permafrost geologist
• Othniel Charles Marsh (1831–1899), USA, pioneer dinosaur paleontologist; Bone Wars competitor
• Kirtley F. Mather (1888–1978), Harvard professor, Scopes monkey trial
• Sir Douglas Mawson (1882–1958), Australian Antarctic explorer
• Sir Frederick McCoy (c. 1817–1899), British and Australian palaeontologist and museum director
• Dan McKenzie (born 1942), UK geophysicist, plate tectonics pioneer
• Digby McLaren (1919–2004), Canadian paleontologist
• Giuseppe Mercalli (1850–1914), Italian seismologist and volcanologist, developed Mercalli scale for measuring earthquakes
• Hans Merensky (1871–1952), South African economic geologist, discovered major diamond, platinum, chrome and copper deposits, including the Merensky Reef
• John C. Merriam (1869–1945), USA, vertebrate paleontologist, studied fossils from La Brea Tar Pits
• Waman Bapuji Metre (1906–1970), India, petroleum geologist
• Gerard V. Middleton (born 1931), Canada, sedimentologist
• Andrija Mohorovičić (1857–1936), Croatian meteorologist and seismologist, discovered Mohorovicic Discontinuity
• Friedrich Mohs (1773–1839), Germany, devised Mohs' scale of mineral hardness
• James Monger, Canadian Cordillera geologist
• W. Jason Morgan (born 1935), American plate tectonics pioneer
• Eric W. Mountjoy, Canadian sedimentologist and petrologist
• Roderick Murchison (1792–1871), Scotland, author of The Silurian System (1839)
• Emiliano Mutti (born 1933), Italian petroleum geologist

N

• Anthony J. Naldrett (born 1933), Canadian (born England) nickel ore geologist
• E. R. Ward Neale (born 1923), Atlantic Canada geologist
• John Strong Newberry (1822–1892), USA, pioneer Western geologist and explorer
• Stephen Robert Nockolds (1909–1990), FRS and Murchison Medallist, petrologist.
• Nils Gustaf Nordenskiöld (1792–1866), Finland and Russia, mineralogist

O

John Ostrom and friend

• Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857–1935), American geologist and paleontologist
• John Ostrom (1928–2005), American dinosaur paleontologist, discovered warm-blooded Deinonychus
• David Dale Owen (1807–1860), American, first state geologist of Indiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas

P

• Joseph Pardee (1871–1960), USA, channeled scablands
• Clair Cameron Patterson (1922–1995), USA, geochemist, fought lead poisoning
• R.A.F. Penrose, Jr. (1863–1931), USA, mining geologist, Penrose Medal
• Francis J. Pettijohn (1904-1999), USA, sedimentologist
• John Phillips (1800–1874), Yorkshire geologist
• John Arthur Phillips, (1822–1887), FRS, Cornish geologist, metallurgist and mining engineer.
• Vasiliy Podshibyakin (1928–1997), Soviet geologist, discoverer of Urengoy gas field
• Vladimir Porfiriev (1899–1982), Russian petroleum geologist
• Henry W. Posamentier (Born 1948), USA, petroleum geologist
• John Wesley Powell (1834–1902), USA, ex-soldier who mapped the Colorado River, second director of the USGS.
• Raymond A. Price (born 1933) Canadian structural and tectonic geologist
• Raphael Pumpelly (1837–1923), USA, geologist and explorer

R

Charles Richter, c.1971

• Bangalore Puttaiya Radhakrishna (born 1918), Indian geologist.
• Frederick Leslie Ransome (1868–1935), USA (born England), USGS economic geologist
• David M. Raup (born 1933), USA, paleontologist; author of Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck?
• Charles Richter (1900–1985), American seismologist, devised Richter magnitude scale for earthquakes
• Ferdinand von Richthofen (1833–1905), German geologist and geographer
• Andrés Manuel del Río (1764–1849), Spanish–Mexican mineralogist, discoverer of vanadium
• Ralph J. Roberts (1911–2007), American geologist, Nevada gold districts
• Stanley Keith Runcorn (1922–1995), British-American geophysicist and plate tectonics pioneer.

S

William Smith, father of English geology

• Donald F. Sangster, Canada, lead-zinc economic geologist
• Manuel Santillán (1894–1982), Mexican geological engineer and politician
• Harrison Schmitt (born 1935), USA, Apollo 17 moonwalker
• Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873), England, proposed Devonian and Cambrian periods
• Seikei Sekiya (1855–1896), Japanese seismologist, created the model showing the motion of an earth-particle during an earthquake
• Nicholas Shackleton (1937–2006), British geologist and climatologist
• Shen Kuo (1031–1095), Chinese scientist, magnetic compass pioneer, geomorphology theory
• Eugene Merle Shoemaker (1928–1997), USA, meteoriticist, co-discovered Comet Shoemaker-Levy
• Haraldur Sigurdsson, (born 1939), Iceland, provided proof for a meteorite impact at the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs
• George Gaylord Simpson (1902–1984), USA, paleontologist
• William Smith (1769–1839), father of English Geology
• Su Song (1020–1101), Chinese naturalist, author of treatise on metallurgy and mineralogy
• Josiah Edward Spurr (1870–1950), USA, geologist, author and Alaskan explorer
• Flaxman Charles John Spurrell (1842–1915), English archaeologist, geologist and photographer
• Charles Steen (1919–2006), USA, discovered uranium near Moab, Utah
• Max Steineke (died 1952), USA, credited with the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia in the 1930s
• Charles R. Stelck (born 1917), Canada, petroleum geologist, emeritus professor
• Nicolas Steno (1638–1686), Denmark, pioneer in early-modern geology
• Iain Stewart (born 1964), UK, presenter of several television series on geology in the UK.
• Clifford H. Stockwell (1897–1987), Canadian structural geologist, Geological Survey of Canada
• David Strangway, Canada, geophysicist and university administrator
• Eduard Suess (1831–1914), Austria (born England), named Gondwanaland
• Peter Szatmari Hungarian–Brazilian geologist

T

Marie Tharp & Bruce Heezen

• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955), French paleontologist and philosopher, co-discovered Peking man
• Karl von Terzaghi (1883–1963), geologist and civil engineer, called the "father of soil mechanics"
• Marie Tharp (1920–2006), co-discoverer of the Mid-Oceanic Ridge
• Lonnie Thompson (born 1948), USA, glaciologist and ice-core climatologist
• Sigurdur Thorarinsson (1912-1983), Iceland, pioneered the field of tephrochronology
• Raymond Thorsteinsson (born c. 1930), Canada, Arctic geologist
• Phillip Tobias (born 1925), South African palaeoanthropologist, homo habilis pioneer
• Otto Martin Torell (1828–1900), chief of the Geological Survey of Sweden
• Francis John Turner (1904–1985), New Zealand, Igneous and metamophic petrologist
• Joseph Tyrrell (1858–1957), Canadian paleontologist, namesake of Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology

U

• Warren Upham (1850–1934), USA, studied glacial Lake Agassiz

V

• Charles-Louis-Joseph-Xavier de la Vallée-Poussin (1827–1903), Belgian geologist and mineralogist
• Jan Veizer (born 1941), Canadian isotope geochemist
• Felix Andries Vening Meinesz (1887–1966), Dutch geophysicist and gravimetric geodesist
• Rogier Verbeek (1845-1926), Dutch geologist and nature scientist
• Vladimir Vernadsky (1863–1945), pioneer Russian geochemist and biogeochemist
• Fred Vine (born 1939), British marine geologist, geophysicist, plate tectonics pioneer

W

Alfred Wegener, c.1925

• Lawrence Wager (1904–1965), British geologist and explorer, discovered the Skaergaard intrusion
• Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850–1927), American paleontologist, discovered Burgess Shale fossils
• Roger G. Walker, (b. 1939) Canadian sedimentologist, emeritus professor
• Alfred Wegener (1880–1930), German meteorologist, continental drift pioneer
• Harold Wellman (1909–1999), New Zealand geologist of plate tectonics
• Abraham Werner (c. 1749–1817), Germany, proponent of Neptunism
• Israel Charles White (1848–1927), USA, coal geology; Permian paleontology
• Josiah Whitney (1819–1896), chief of the California Geological Survey; Mt. Whitney
• Harold Williams (born 1934), Atlantic Canada geologist
• Howel Williams (1898–1980), American (born England) volcanologist
• John Williamson (1907–1958), discovered the Williamson diamond mine, Tanzania
• J. Tuzo Wilson (1908–1993), Canadian geophysicist and plate tectonics geologist
• Newton Horace Winchell (1839–1914), USA, geology of Minnesota
• William Henry Wright (1876–1951), Canadian prospector and newspaper publisher, discovered Kirkland Lake gold district

Y

• Ivan Yefremov (1907–1972), Soviet paleontologist and originator of taphonomy

See also

• List of Russian geologists