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

Geoscience specialties represented include geochemistry, geophysics, structural geology, tectonics, geomorphology, glaciology, hydrology, hydrogeology, oceanography, mineralogy, petrology, crystallography, paleontology, paleobotany, paleoclimatology, palynology, petroleum geology, planetary geology, sedimentology, soil science, stratigraphy, and volcanology. In this list, the person listed is a geologist unless another specialty is noted. Only geologists with biographical articles in Wikipedia are listed here.

A

Vladimir Abazarov (1930–2003), Soviet geologist, discoverer of Samotlor oil field
Aziz Ab'Saber (1924–2012), Brazilian geomorphologist, member Brazilian Academy of Sciences
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), Italian, Renaissance naturalist
Claude Allègre (1937–2025), French geochemist, member of the French Academy of Sciences
Fernando Flávio Marques de Almeida (1916–2013), Brazilian geologist, member Brazilian Academy of Sciences
Walter Alvarez (born 1940), American, co-author of the impact theory for the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event
J. Willis Ambrose (1911–1974), first President of Geological Association of Canada
Ernest Masson Anderson (1877–1960), Scottish structural geologist, influential in theory of faulting
Roy Chapman Andrews (1884–1960), American explorer and naturalist; Mongolian dinosaurs
Mary Anning (1799–1847), English pioneer fossil collector
Adolphe d'Archiac (1802–1868), French paleontologist, member French Academy of Sciences
Giovanni Arduino (1714–1795), Italian, first classification of geological time
Richard Lee Armstrong (1937–1991), American/Canadian geochemist, won Logan Medal
Rosemary Askin (born 1949), first New Zealand woman to undertake her own research program in Antarctica in 1970.^[1]
Tanya Atwater (born 1942), California, American geophysicist, marine geologist, plate tectonics specialist

B

Ralph Bagnold (1896–1990), British, studied deserts and the physics of sand
Andrew Geddes Bain (1797–1864), South African, prepared first detailed geological map of South Africa
Bashiru Ademola Raji, Nigerian geologist and pedogenesist
Robert T. Bakker (born 1945), American dinosaur paleontologist; author, The Dinosaur Heresies
Octávio Barbosa (1907–1997), Brazilian field geologist and prospector; Gold Medal, Sociedade Brasileira de Geologia
Thomas Barger (1909–1986), American, pioneered oil exploration in Saudi Arabia, later CEO of Aramco
Anthony R. Barringer (1925–2009), Canadian/American geophysicist and inventor
Charles Barrois (1851–1939), French geologist and paleontologist
Florence Bascom (1862–1945), American, first woman geologist at the US Geological Survey
Éliane Basse (1899–1985), French geologist and research director at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)
Abhijit Basu, Indian born American geologist
Robert Bell (1841–1917), considered Canada's greatest explorer-scientist
Walter A. Bell (1889–1969), Canadian paleobotanist and stratigrapher
Helen Belyea (1913–1986), Canadian geologist best known for her research of the Devonian System.
Reinout Willem van Bemmelen (1904–1983), Dutch, structural geology, economic geology and volcanology
Etheldred Benett (1776–1845), English, pioneer paleontologist
Pierre Berthier (1782–1861), French geologist, discovered the properties of bauxite
Luca Bindi (born 1971), Italian geologist, discovered the first natural quasicrystal icosahedrite
Eliot Blackwelder (1880–1969), American field geologist, president of the Geological Society of America
George Stanfield Blake (1876–1940), British geologist
William Blake (1774–1852), President of the Geological Society of London 1815–1816
William Phipps Blake (1826–1910), American geologist
Selwyn G. Blaylock (1879–1945), Canadian chemist and mining executive with Cominco
Stewart Blusson (born 1939), Canadian, co-discoverer of Ekati Diamond Mine
Alexei Alexeivich Bogdanov (1907–1971), Soviet geologist
Bruce Bolt (1930–2005), American (born Australia), pioneer engineering seismologist in California
José Bonaparte (1928–2020), Argentinian paleontologist, discovered many South American dinosaurs
William Borlase (1696–1772), Cornish natural historian, studied the minerals of Cornwall
Norman L. Bowen (1887–1956), Canadian, pioneer experimental petrologist
Scipione Breislak (1748–1826), Italian mineralogist and geologist, pioneer of volcanic gas collection
J Harlen Bretz (1882–1981), American, discovered origin of channeled scablands
David Brewster (1781–1868), Scottish physicist, studied the optical properties of minerals.
Wallace S. Broecker (1931–2019), American paleoclimatologist and chemical oceanographer
Robert Broom (1866–1951), South African palaeontologist, discovered australopithecine hominid fossils
Barnum Brown (1873–1963), American, dinosaur hunter and self-taught paleontologist
Christian Leopold von Buch (1774–1853), German geologist and paleontologist
Mary Buckland (1797–1857), English, paleontologist, marine biologist and scientific illustrator
William Buckland (1784–1856), English, wrote the first full account of a fossil dinosaur
Judith Bunbury (born 1967), British, geoarchaeologist
B. Clark Burchfiel (1934-2024), MIT structural geologist, studied the Tibetan Plateau; member of National Academy of Sciences
Perry Byerly (1897–1978), American geophysicist and seismologist

C

Louis J. Cabri (born 1934), Canadian, geologist and mineralogist, Fellow, Royal Society of Canada
Stephen E. Calvert (born 1935), Canadian professor, geologist, oceanographer; awarded Logan Medal
Colin Campbell (1931–2022), British petroleum geologist and Peak Oil theorist
Neil Campbell (1914–1978), Canadian, Northwest Territories mineral exploration; Fellow, Royal Society of Canada
Samuel Warren Carey (1911–2002), Australian, continental drift proponent and later developed Expanding Earth hypothesis
Petr Černý (1934–2018), Czech/Canadian mineralogist, won Logan Medal; Fellow, Royal Society of Canada
Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois (1820–1886), French, geologist and mineralogist
George V. Chilingar (1929–2023), American, distinguished international petroleum geologist
Václav Cílek (born 1955), Czech geologist and science popularizer
John J. Clague (born 1946), Canadian, Quaternary and geological hazards expert
Thomas H. Clark (1893–1996), Canadian, co-author of The Geological Evolution of North America (1960)
William Branwhite Clarke (1798–1878), Australian (born England), discovered gold in New South Wales, 1841
Peter Clift (born 1966), British marine geologist and monsoon researcher, best known for work in Asia
Hans Cloos (1885–1951), prominent German structural geologist
Lorence G. Collins, (born 1931), American, petrologist, discoveries on metasomatism
Simon Conway Morris (born 1951), palaeontologist and writer, best known for study of Burgess Shale fossils
William Conybeare (1787–1857), English, author of Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales (1822)
Isabel Clifton Cookson (1893–1973), Australian paleobotanist and palynologist, namesake of genus Cooksonia
Edward Drinker Cope (1840–1897), American, pioneer dinosaur paleontologist; Bone Wars competitor
Charles 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), French, proponent of catastrophism
Lindsay Collins (1944–2015), Australian marine geologist and sedimentologist

D

G. Brent Dalrymple (born 1937), United States, author The Age of the Earth (1991), winner National Science Medal, 2005
James Dwight Dana (1813–1895), American, author of System of Mineralogy (1837)
Charles Darwin (1809–1882), British naturalist, author of On the Origin of Species, atoll formation
George Mercer Dawson (1849–1901), Canadian, pioneer Yukon geologist, Fellow of the Royal Society
John William Dawson (1820–1899), Canadian, pioneer Acadian geologist, Fellow of the Royal Society
Henry De la Beche (1796–1855), English, first director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain
Duncan R. Derry (1906–1987), Canadian economic geologist, awarded Logan Medal
Nicolas Desmarest (1725–1815), French, pioneer volcanologist
Thomas Dibblee (1911–2004), American, geological mapper and pioneer of San Andreas Fault movement study
William R. Dickinson (1930–2015), Arizona, American, plate tectonics, Colorado Plateau; Member of National Academy of Sciences
Robert S. Dietz (1914–1995), American, seafloor spreading pioneer, awarded Penrose Medal
Déodat de Dolomieu (1750–1801), French geologist
Ljudmila Dolar Mantuani (1906–1988), Slovenian petrologist, first female professor of petrography in Yugoslavia
Louis de Loczy (1897–1980), Hungarian-Brazilian geologist
Ignacy Domeyko (1802–1889), Slavic-Chilean geologist and mineralogist, namesake of the mineral domeykite
Robert John Wilson Douglas (1920–1979), Canadian petroleum geologist, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Aleksis Dreimanis (1914–2011), Latvian-Canadian award-winning Quaternary geologist, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
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), American, author of Tertiary History of the Grand Canyon District

E

Edith Ebers (1894–1974), German geologist, glaciologist
Heinz Ebert (1907–1983), German-Brazilian, geologist, petrologist; awarded gold medal, Sociedade Brasileira de Geologia
Fanny Carter Edson (1887–1952), American petroleum geologist
Niles Eldredge (born 1943), American, paleontologist; theory of punctuated equilibrium
Jean-Baptiste Élie de Beaumont (1798–1874), French, prepared first geological map of France
Kay-Chrisitan Emeis, German geologist and academic
W. G. Ernst (born 1931), American, Stanford petrologist and geochemist, member of National Academy of Sciences
Pentti Eskola (1883–1964), Finnish geologist and professor who created the concept of metamorphic facies
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), American, pioneering geophysicist and oceanographer

F

Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (1741–1819), French, pioneer volcanologist
Mikhail A. Fedonkin (born 1946), Russian paleontologist, awarded Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal
Walter Frederick Ferrier (1865–1950), Canadian, mineral collector, namesake of the mineral Ferrierite
Judy Fierstein, American, volcanology and petrology researcher of the U.S. Geological Survey
Frederick C. Finkle (1865–1949), American consulting engineer and geologist; Chief Engineer on 18 major dam projects
Michael Fleischer (1908–1998), American chemist and mineralogist
Charles E. Fipke (born 1946), Canadian, co-discoverer of Ekati Diamond Mine
Richard Fortey (1946–2025), English, trilobite paleontologist, author, Fellow of the Royal Society
Yves O. Fortier (1914–2014), Canadian, High Arctic explorer, won Logan Medal
Gillian Foulger (born 1952), British, professor of geophysics at Durham University; awarded Price Medal
William Fyfe (1927–2013), Canadian geochemist, won Wollaston Medal

G

Patrick Ganly (1809–1899), Irish surveyor and geologist, described the use of cross-bedding in stratification
Robert Garrels (1916–1988), American geochemist, revolutionized aqueous geochemistry
Archibald Geikie (1835–1924), Scottish, geologist, President of the Royal Society
Mark S. Ghiorso (born 1954), American geochemist, thermodynamic modeling of magma
Grove Karl Gilbert (1843–1918), American, influential Western geologist, won Wollaston Medal
James E. Gill (1901–1980), Canadian, McGill University professor, explorer, Logan Medal winner
Victor Goldschmidt (1888–1947), Norwegian (born Switzerland), a founder of modern geochemistry
Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002), American paleontologist and writer
L. C. Graton (1880–1970), American, Harvard economic geologist, awarded Penrose Gold Medal
Alexander Henry Green (1832–1896), English, surveyed Derbyshire and Yorkshire, Fellow of the Royal Society
George Bellas Greenough (1778–1855), English, gentlemanly geologist, founding member and first President of the Geological Society
John Walter Gregory (1864–1932), English, geology of Australia and East Africa, glacial geology, President of the Geological Society of London (1928–1930)
Robbie Gries (born 1943), American, first female president (2001–02) of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Djalma Guimarães (1894–1973), Brazilian geochemist and mineralogist in Minas Gerais
Henry C. Gunning (1901–1991), Canadian (born Northern Ireland), British Columbia geologist, Logan Medal winner

H

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), American geologist and paleontologist
William Hamilton (1731–1803), Scottish, volcanologist, Copley Medal
Alfred Harker (1859–1939), English, igneous petrologist and petrographer
W. Brian Harland (1917–2003), English, polar geologist
Geoffrey Hattersley-Smith (1923–2012), English and Canadian, polar geologist
Donald E. Hattin (1928–2016), American geologist and paleontologist
Thomas Hawkins (1810–1889), English fossil collector
James Edwin Hawley (1897–1965), Canadian, studied mineralogy of ore deposits
Erasmus Haworth (1855–1932), founder of the Kansas Geological Survey and the first state geologist of Kansas
Frank Hawthorne (born 1946), Canadian mineralogist and crystallographer
Richard L. Hay (1929–2006), American geologist
Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden (1829–1887), American, pioneer Western geologist
Robert Hazen (born 1948), American, mineralogist and astrobiologist
Hollis Dow Hedberg (1903–1988), American geologist
Bruce Heezen (1924–1977), American geologist who first mapped the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
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), American, known as the "Prophet of Spindletop"
Wes Hildreth (born 1938), American, volcanologist and petrologist
Eugene W. Hilgard (1833–1916), American (born Germany), soil scientist
Robert T. Hill (1858–1941), American geologist, Cretaceous deposits of Central Texas
Claude Hillaire-Marcel (born 1944), Canadian (born France), Quaternary geologist
Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829–1884), German-Austrian, produced first regional New Zealand geological maps and surveys.
Paul F. Hoffman (born 1941), American and Canadian, Snowball Earth theorist
Arthur Holmes (1890–1965), English, author of Principles of Physical Geology
Marjorie Hooker (1908–1976), American, acted as a mineral specialist for the United States Department of State from 1943 to 1947
Jack Horner (born 1946), American dinosaur paleontologist
Kenneth J. Hsu (born 1929), American (born China), author of The Mediterranean was a Desert
M. King Hubbert (1903–1989), American, originator of "Peak Oil" theory
James Hutton (1726–1797), Scottish geologist, father of modern geology

I

Edward A. Irving (1927–2014), Canadian, used paleomagnetism to support continental drift theory

J

Thomas Jaggar (1871–1953), American, volcanologist and founder of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
James A. Jensen (1911–1998), American, distinguished dinosaur paleontologist and sculptor
Dougal Jerram (born 1969), British geologist/earth scientist, television and media presenter and author
David A. Johnston (1949–1980), American, volcanologist, killed in the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens
Franc Joubin (1911–1997), Canadian (born United States), discovered Elliot Lake uranium district
John Wesley Judd (1840–1916), British geologist, professor at the Royal School of Mines, London
Wilhelmine Mimi Johnson (1890–1980), Norway's first female geologist

K

Michael John Keen (1935–1991), Atlantic Canada, marine geoscientist
Dennis V. Kent (born 1946), American geomagnetist
Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska (1925–2015), Polish paleontologist, led several paleontological expeditions to the Gobi desert
Clarence King (1842–1901), American, first director of the U.S. Geological Survey
James Kitching (1922–2003), South African, 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 and one of the founders of Russian marine science
Andrew H. Knoll (born 1951), American, Harvard geologist and paleontologist
Danie G. Krige (1919–2013), 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), Canadian, geochronologist, revolutionized uranium-lead radiometric dating
William C. Krumbein (1902–1979), American, sedimentologist
Nikolai Kudryavtsev (1893–1971), Russian petroleum geologist

L

Alfred Lacroix (1863–1948), French geologist
Charles Lapworth (1842–1920), English geologist, defined the Ordovician Period
Andrew Lawson (1861–1952), American (born Scotland), named San Andreas Fault
Richard Leakey (1944–2022), Kenyan paleontologist
Joseph LeConte (1823–1901), United States, 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. The asteroid 5632 Ingelehmann was named in her honour.
Luna Leopold (1915–2006), eminent American hydrologist
Xavier Le Pichon (1937–2025), French plate tectonics geophysicist
Zofia Licharewa (1883–1980), Polish geologist and museum founder
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), English, pioneer geologist
William Edmond Logan (1798–1875), Canadian, founded Geological Survey of Canada
Fred Longstaffe, Canadian, Provost of University of Western Ontario
Rosaly Lopes (born 1957), Brazilian, planetary geology and volcanology
Sir Charles Lyell (1797–1875), Scottish geologist, popularized principle of uniformitarianism

M

William Maclure (1763–1840), published first geological map of United States (1809)
J. Ross Mackay (1915–2014), Canadian permafrost geologist
Robert Mallet (1810–1881), Irish, "father of seismology"
Joseph A. Mandarino (1929–2007), American mineralogist
Othniel Charles Marsh (1831–1899), American, pioneer dinosaur paleontologist; Bone Wars competitor
Teresa Maryańska (1937–2019), Polish, paleontologist specializing in dinosaurs
Kirtley F. Mather (1888–1978), Harvard professor, Scopes Monkey Trial
William Williams Mather (1804–1859), professor, de facto state geologist of Ohio
Drummond Matthews (1931–1997), British marine geologist, geophysicist, plate tectonics pioneer
Sir Douglas Mawson (1882–1958), Australian Antarctic explorer
Sir Frederick McCoy (c. 1817–1899), British and Australian palaeontologist and museum director
Edith Merritt McKee (1918–2006), American geologist
Dan McKenzie (born 1942), British geophysicist, plate tectonics pioneer
Digby McLaren (1919–2004), Canadian paleontologist, Fellow of the Royal Society
Marcia McNutt (born 1952), American geophysicist and the 22nd president of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the United States, 15th director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) (and first woman to hold the post)
Oscar Edward Meinzer (1876–1948), American hydrologist, "father of groundwater geology"
Luiz Alberto Dias Menezes (1950–2014), Brazilian geologist and mineralogist
Giuseppe Mercalli (1850–1914), Italian seismologist and volcanologist, developed the Mercalli intensity 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), American, vertebrate paleontologist, studied fossils from La Brea Tar Pits
Waman Bapuji Metre (1906–1970), Indian, petroleum geologist
Ellen Louise Mertz (1896–1987), was one of Denmark's first female geologists and the country's first engineering geologist.
Gerard V. Middleton (1931–2021), Canadian, sedimentologist, awarded Logan Medal
Milutin Milanković (1879 - 1958), Serbian, geophysicist, climatologist
Hugh Miller (1802–1856), Scottish, geologist, palaeontologist, author, The Old Red Sandstone
John Milne (1850–1913), British seismologist and anthropologist, Order of the Rising Sun
Andrija Mohorovičić (1857–1936), Croatian meteorologist and seismologist, discovered Mohorovicic Discontinuity
Friedrich Mohs (1773–1839), German, devised Mohs' scale of mineral hardness
James Monger, Canadian Cordillera geologist, won Logan Medal
Eldridge Moores (1938–2018), American plate tectonics pioneer and petrologist who specialized in ophiolites
Marie Morisawa (1919–1994), American geomorphology pioneer. The Geological Society of America established the Marie Morisawa Award in her honor.
W. Jason Morgan (1935–2023), American plate tectonics pioneer, won National Medal of Science
Edelmira Inés Mórtola (1894–1973), Argentine geologist for whom the Mórtola Mineralogy Museum was named.
Eric W. Mountjoy (1931–2010), Canadian sedimentologist and petrologist, awarded Logan Medal
Roderick Murchison (1792–1871), Scottish, author of The Silurian System (1839)
Emiliano Mutti (born 1933), Italian petroleum geologist, won Twenhofel Medal

N

Anthony J. Naldrett (1933–2020), Canadian (born England) nickel ore geologist
E. R. Ward Neale (1923–2008), Atlantic Canada geologist
John Strong Newberry (1822–1892), American, pioneer Western geologist and explorer
Ernest (Ernie) H. Nickel (1925–2009), Canadian mineralogist
Stephen Robert Nockolds (1909–1990), FRS and Murchison Medallist, petrologist
Nils Gustaf Nordenskiöld (1792–1866), Finnish and Russian, mineralogist

O

Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857–1935), American geologist and paleontologist
Halszka Osmólska (1930–2008), Polish paleontologist specializing in dinosaurs
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), American, channeled scablands
Clair Cameron Patterson (1922–1995), American, geochemist, fought lead poisoning
R.A.F. Penrose, Jr. (1863–1931), American, mining geologist, Penrose Medal
Francis J. Pettijohn (1904–1999), American, 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), American, petroleum geologist
John Wesley Powell (1834–1902), American, ex-soldier who mapped the Colorado River, second director of the USGS
Raymond A. Price (1933-2024), Canadian, structural and tectonic geologist
Raphael Pumpelly (1837–1923), American, geologist and explorer

Q

Jin Qingmin (1939-1999), Chinese, discovered for the first time the “breccia field peridotite” in Bachu Wajir Tagar in the Tarim Basin

R

Bangalore Puttaiya Radhakrishna (1918–2012), a founder and officer of the Geological Society of India
John G. Ramsay (1931–2021), British structural geologist
Frederick Leslie Ransome (1868–1935), American (born England), USGS economic geologist, National Academy of Sciences
David M. Raup (1933–2015), American, paleontologist; author of Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck?
Mary Louise Rhodes (1916–1987) American petroleum geologist; Permian Basin field research
Charles Richter (1900–1985), American seismologist, devised Richter magnitude scale for earthquakes
Ferdinand von Richthofen (1833–1905), German geologist and geographer
A.E. "Ted" Ringwood (1930–1993), Australian experimental geophysicist and geochemist, Wollaston Medal winner
Andrés Manuel del Río (1764–1849), Spanish–Mexican mineralogist, discoverer of vanadium
Alfred Rittmann (1893–1980), Swiss volcanologist, three-time president of the IAVCEI, Gustav Steinmann medal winner
John Cole Roberts (1935–2016), Welsh geoglogist, fracture patterning
Ralph J. Roberts (1911–2007), American geologist, Nevada gold districts
Meyer Rubin (1924–2020), American geologist, known for radiocarbon dating work with the USGS
Stanley Keith Runcorn (1922–1995), British geophysicist and plate tectonics pioneer; Fellow of the Royal Society

S

Donald F. Sangster, Canadian, lead-zinc economic geologist
Emilia Săulea (1904–1998), Romanian geologist and paleontologist
Celâl Şengör (born 1955), Turkish, member of The United States National Academy of Sciences and The Russian Academy of Sciences, Bigsby Medal, Gustav-Steinmann-Medaille and Arthur Holmes Medal winner
Harrison Schmitt (born 1935), American, Apollo 17 astronaut, walked on the Moon
Kevin M. Scott (born 1935), American, volcanology research in United States and China, Kirk Bryan Award
George Julius Poulett Scrope (1797–1876), English, volcanology, Wollaston Medal
Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873), English, proposed Devonian and Cambrian periods
Karl von Seebach (1839–1880), German volcanologist
Adolf Seilacher (1925-2014), German paleontologist, invented the concept and study of ichnofacies, coined the term "Lagerstätten", and championed the photoautotrophic view of the Ediacaran biota. Craaford Prize, Paleontological Society Award, Gustav-Steinmann-Medaille, and Lapworth Award winner, among others.
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
Richard H. Sibson (born 1945), New Zealand geologist, defined the relationship between seismogenic processes and fault zone rheology.
Eugene Merle Shoemaker (1928–1997), American, meteoriticist, co-discovered Comet Shoemaker-Levy
Haraldur Sigurdsson, (born 1939), Icelandic, provided proof for a meteorite impact at the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs
Leon Silver (1925–2022), American, National Academy, NASA medal for contribution to Apollo program's lunar explorations
George Gaylord Simpson (1902–1984), American, paleontologist
Kamini Singha (born 1977), professor at the Colorado School of Mines
William Smith (1769–1839), father of English Geology
Su Song (1020–1101), Chinese naturalist, author of treatise on metallurgy and mineralogy
Paul Spudis (1952–2018), American planetary geologist
Josiah Edward Spurr (1870–1950), American, geologist, author and Alaskan explorer
Laurence Dudley Stamp (1898–1966), British, petroleum geologist and geographer
Charles Steen (1919–2006), American, discovered uranium near Moab, Utah
Max Steineke (1898–1952), American, discovered Abqaiq oilfield with 12 billion barrels of recoverable oil in Saudi Arabia
Charles R. Stelck (1917–2016), Canadian, petroleum geologist, emeritus professor, Logan Medal winner
Nicolas Steno (1638–1686), Danish, pioneer in early-modern geology, especially in stratigraphy
Iain Stewart (born 1964), British, presenter of several television series on geology
Clifford H. Stockwell (1897–1987), Canadian structural geologist, Geological Survey of Canada, Logan Medal winner
David Strangway (1934–2016), Canadian, geophysicist and university administrator, Logan Medal award
K. Hugo Strunz (1910–2006), German mineralogist, co-creator of the Nickel–Strunz classification.
Eduard Suess (1831–1914), Austrian (born England), named Gondwanaland
Peter Szatmari, Hungarian-Brazilian geologist, Gold Medal award, Sociedade Brasileira de Geologia

T

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955), French paleontologist and philosopher, co-discovered Peking Man
Karl von Terzaghi (1883–1963), geologist and civil engineer, "father of soil mechanics"
Marie Tharp (1920–2006), co-discoverer of the Mid-Oceanic Ridge
Lonnie Thompson (born 1948), American, glaciologist and ice-core climatologist
Sigurdur Thorarinsson (1912–1983), Icelandic, pioneered the field of tephrochronology
Raymond Thorsteinsson (1921–2012), Canadian, Arctic geologist
Bahal Tambunan (born 1974), Indonesian geoscientist who studies geothermal energy
Phillip Tobias (1925–2012), 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 metamorphic petrologist
Joseph Tyrrell (1858–1957), Canadian paleontologist, namesake of Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology

U

Warren Upham (1850–1934), American, studied glacial Lake Agassiz
David Ure (1749–1798), Scottish, known as "the father of Scottish palaeontology"

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 (1939–2024), British marine geologist, geophysicist, plate tectonics pioneer

W

Lawrence Wager (1904–1965), British geologist and explorer, discovered the Skaergaard intrusion
Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850–1927), American paleontologist, discovered Burgess Shale fossils
George P. L. Walker (1926–2005), British volcanologist
Roger G. Walker (born 1939), Canadian sedimentologist, emeritus professor
Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen (1809–1876), German, magnetic observations and study of Mount Etna
Janet Watson, (1923–1985), Precambrian specialist, first female president of the Geological Society of London
Alfred Wegener (1880–1930), German meteorologist, continental drift pioneer
Harold Wellman (1909–1999), New Zealand geologist of plate tectonics
Abraham Werner (c. 1749–1817), German, proponent of Neptunism
Israel Charles White (1848–1927), American, coal geology; Permian paleontology
Josiah Whitney (1819–1896), chief of the California Geological Survey; Mount Whitney
Harold Williams (1934–2010), 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), American, geology of Minnesota
Isaac J. Winograd, American geologist
Jay Backus Woodworth (1865–1925), American geologist and president of the Seismological Society of America
William Henry Wright (1876–1951), Canadian prospector and newspaper publisher, discovered Kirkland Lake gold district

Y

Eiju Yatsu (1920–2016), Japanese, geomorphologist
Ivan Yefremov (1907–1972), Soviet paleontologist and originator of taphonomy
Sorojon Yusufova (1910–1966), Tajik geologist, first person to publish a textbook in the Tajik language

Z

Peter Ziegler (1928–2013), Swiss petroleum geologist, researched on plate reconstructions and paleogeographies
Mary Lou Zoback (born 1952), American geophysicist who led the world stress map project of the International Lithosphere Program

References

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