Famous Geologists

Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875), was a Scottish geologist. He proved that existing natural causes explain Earth history. Lyell wrote Principles of Geology (1830-33 and later editions). This work showed the Earth was shaped by the same natural processes operating today at similar intensities. William Whewell called this view "uniformitarianism," contrasting it with catastrophism championed by Georges Cuvier.

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath. He worked as a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. Leonardo is widely considered one of the greatest painters ever. His genius exemplified the Renaissance humanist ideal. Art historia describes him as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, possessing "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination".

Harrison Schmitt, born July 3, 1935, is an American geologist and retired NASA astronaut. He was also a university professor and a former U.S. senator from New Mexico. As a crew member of Apollo 17, he was the most recent living person to walk on the Moon. In December 1972, Schmitt became the first member of NASA's scientist-astronaut group to fly in space.

James Hutton (3 June 1726 – 26 March 1797) was a Scottish geologist, physician, chemical manufacturer, naturalist, and experimental agriculturalist. Hutton contributed to uniformitarianism, a fundamental geology principle. This principle explains Earth's crust features using natural processes over geologic time. His work helped establish geology as a science. He is often called the "Father of Modern Geology," though Buffon also used these principles.

Charles Robert Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist. He is known for his contributions to the science of evolution. Darwin proposed that all life forms descend from common ancestors over time. In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced natural selection. This process shows how the struggle for existence affects evolution.

George Gibbs was an American ethnologist, naturalist, and geologist. He studied the languages of indigenous peoples in Washington Territory. Gibbs specialized in Native American customs and languages. He participated in treaty negotiations between the U.S. government and native tribes.

John Bidwell (August 5, 1819 – April 4, 1900) was a California pioneer, farmer, soldier, statesman, and philanthropist. He was active in the Democratic and Republican parties. In 1864, he was elected to Congress as a Republican for one term. Bidwell led an emigrant party known as the Bartleson–Bidwell Party along the California Trail. He founded Chico, California, and received Mexican land grants after becoming a Mexican citizen.

William 'Strata' Smith (23 March 1769 – 28 August 1839) was an English geologist. Smith created the first nationwide geological map. At that time, the scientific community overlooked him due to his humble education and family connections. Smith faced financial ruin and time in debtors' prison. He received recognition late in life and became known as the "Father of English Geology".

Alfred Lothar Wegener (November 1, 1880 – November 1930) was a German polar researcher, geophysicist, and meteorologist. He pioneered polar research and meteorology during his lifetime. Today, he is remembered as the originator of the theory of continental drift. Wegener hypothesized in 1912 that continents slowly drifted around the Earth (German: Kontinentalverschiebung). His hypothesis faced controversy until the 1950s when discoveries like palaeomagnetism provided evidence.

John Muir (April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914) was known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks." He was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, glaciologist, and environmental philosopher. Muir advocated for preserving wilderness in the United States. His letters and books detailing his nature adventures, especially in the Sierra Nevada, reached millions of readers. His activism helped preserve Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park, and many other wilderness areas. He co-founded the Sierra Club.

James Francis Reilly II (born March 18, 1954) is an American geologist and former NASA astronaut. Reilly flew three space shuttle missions: STS-89, STS-104, and STS-117. He currently serves as the Director of the United States Geological Survey.

Florence Bascom (July 14, 1862 – June 18, 1945) was the second woman to earn a Ph.D in geology in the United States. She became the first woman to receive a Ph.D from Johns Hopkins University in 1893. In 1896, she worked for the United States Geological Survey. Bascom earned a master's degree in geology and led the next generation of female geologists. Geologists consider her the first woman geologist in America.

Colin J. Campbell, PhD Oxford (born 1931), was a retired British petroleum geologist. He predicted oil production would peak by 2007. Campbell claimed the consequences of this prediction were uncertain but drastic due to global dependency on fossil fuels. His theories received wide attention but did not significantly change governmental energy policies. He proposed the Rimini protocol to deal with declining global oil production. Influential papers include The Coming Oil Crisis, written with Jean Laherrère in 1998.

Anthony R. "Tony" Barringer (October 20, 1925 – August 15, 2009) was a Canadian/American geophysicist. He made numerous contributions to mineral exploration technology. His most famous work was the development of the INPUT airborne electromagnetic system, which has been credited in the discovery of tens of billions of dollars' worth of ore deposits. Before beginning his university studies, Barringer served with the British Army in World War II. In 1948, he began attending the University of London. In 1951, he obtained a B.Sc. in economic geology from the university's Imperial College of Scienc

Walter Alvarez (born October 3, 1940) is a professor in the Earth and Planetary Science department at the University of California, Berkeley. He is most widely known for the theory that dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid impact, developed in collaboration with his father, Nobel Prize winning physicist Luis Alvarez.

Eugene Merle Shoemaker (April 28, 1928 – July 18, 1997), also known as Gene Shoemaker, was an American geologist and one of the founders of the field of planetary science. He is best known for co-discovering the Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 with his wife Carolyn S. Shoemaker and David H. Levy. This comet hit Jupiter in July 1994: the impact was televised around the world. Shoemaker was also well known for his studies of terrestrial craters, such as Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona. Shoemaker was also the first director of the United States Geological Survey's Astrogeology Research Program.

Charles Francis Richter (); April 26, 1900 – September 30, 1985) was an American seismologist and physicist. Richter is most famous as the creator of the Richter magnitude scale, which, until the development of the moment magnitude scale in 1979, quantified the size of earthquakes. Inspired by Kiyoo Wadati's 1928 paper on shallow and deep earthquakes, Richter first used the scale in 1935 after developing it in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg; both worked at the California Institute of Technology. The quote "logarithmic plots are a device of the devil" is attributed to Richter.

Richard Earl Mourdock (born October 8, 1951) is an American politician who served as treasurer of the state of Indiana from 2007 to 2014. Running with the support of the Tea Party movement, he defeated six-term incumbent U.S. Senator Richard Lugar in the May 2012 Republican primary election. He lost the November 6, 2012, general election for Lugar's seat to Democratic Congressman Joe Donnelly.

John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902) was a U.S. soldier, geologist, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. He is famous for the 1869 Powell Geographic Expedition, a three-month river trip down the Green and Colorado rivers, including the first official U.S. government-sponsored passage through the Grand Canyon. Powell served as second director of the U.S. Geological Survey (1881–1894) and proposed, for development of the arid West, policies that were prescient for his accurate eva

Baron Dr. Carl (Karl) Ludwig von Reichenbach (full name: Karl Ludwig Freiherr von Reichenbach) (February 12, 1788 – January 1869) was a notable chemist, geologist, metallurgist, naturalist, industrialist and philosopher, and a member of the prestigious Prussian Academy of Sciences. He is best known for his discoveries of several chemical products of economic importance, extracted from tar, such as eupione, waxy paraffin, pittacal (the first synthetic dye) and phenol (an antiseptic). He also dedicated himself in his last years to research an unproved field of energy combining electricity, magne

Bruce Churchill Murray (November 30, 1931 – August 29, 2013) was an American planetary scientist. He was a director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and co-founder of The Planetary Society.

Henry Fairfield Osborn, Sr. (August 8, 1857 – November 6, 1935) was an American paleontologist and geologist. He was the president of the American Museum of Natural History for 25 years.

James Hall Jr. (September 12, 1811 – August 7, 1898) was an American geologist and paleontologist. He was a noted authority on stratigraphy and had an influential role in the development of paleontology in the United States.

Charles Whittlesey was a soldier, geologist and an investigator of mounds relics of the United States. He is described by Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis, in their book Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, as a "zealous investigator," in the field of "American antiquarian research."

Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (Russian: Влади́мир Ива́нович Верна́дский; Ukrainian: Володи́мир Іва́нович Верна́дський) lived from 12 March [O.S. 28 February] 1863 to 6 January 1945. He was a Russian, Ukrainian, and Soviet mineralogist and geochemist. Vernadsky founded geochemistry, biogeochemistry, and radiogeology. He also established the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (now the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine). He is most known for his 1926 book, The Biosphere. In it, he popularized Eduard Suess's 1885 term biosphere by hypothesizing that life is geological.

John James Stevenson was an American geologist born in New York City. He graduated from New York University in 1863. Stevenson became a professor of chemistry at West Virginia University for two years. He served as a professor of geology at New York University until 1909. Stevenson served as a geologist on the United States Geological Survey during 1873-74 and 1878-80. He also served on the Pennsylvania Geological Survey from 1875-78 and 1881-82. In 1898, he became president of the Geological Society of America. He wrote contributions of permanent importance.

Nicolas Steno (Danish: Niels Steensen; Latinized to Nicolaus Steno or Nicolaus Stenonius) lived from 1 January 1638 to 25 November 1686 [NS: 11 January 1638 – 5 December 1686]. He was a Danish scientist who pioneered anatomy and geology. He became a Catholic bishop later in life. Steno studied classical texts on science. By 1659, he questioned accepted natural world knowledge. He challenged explanations for tear production, the idea that fossils grew in the ground, and rock formation. His investigations produced important conclusions.

John Ross Mackay, (偕約翰, December 31, 1915 – October 28, 2014) was a Canadian geographer. He is most noted for his explorations of permafrost phenomena in the western Canadian Arctic. His 40 plus years of study has enabled the building of pipeline operations and petroleum explorations in areas of frozen ground. The Royal Society of Canada stated the following when Mackay was awarded the Willet G. Miller Medal in 1975: As a research worker with a superb talent of combining three elements - theory, design of simple but effective instruments, and skilled and careful field observations - he has met

Professor Anthony Hallam, aka Tony Hallam, is a British geologist, palaeontologist and writer. His research interests concentrate on the Jurassic Period, with particular reference to stratigraphy, sea level changes and palaeontology. He is also interested in mass extinctions, especially the end Triassic event.

Baron Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen FRSFor HFRSE BGS (5 May 1833 – 6 October 1905), better known in English as Baron von Richthofen, was a German traveller, geographer, and scientist. He is noted for coining the terms "Seidenstraße" and "Seidenstraßen" = "Silk Road(s)" or "Silk Route(s)" in 1877. He also standardized the practices of chorography and chorology. He was an uncle of the World War I flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, best known as the "Red Baron".

Robert Dick (January 1811 – 24 December 1866), Scottish geologist and botanist was born at Tullibody, in Clackmannanshire. His father was an officer of excise. At the age of thirteen, after receiving a good elementary education at the parish school, Dick was apprenticed to a baker, and served for three years. In these early days he became interested in wildflowers—he made a collection of plants and gradually acquired some knowledge of their names from an old encyclopedia. When his time was up he left Tullibody and gained employment as a journeyman baker at Leith, Glasgow and Greenock. Meanwhil

Farouk El-Baz (Egyptian Arabic: فاروق الباز‎, Pronunciation: [fɑˈruːʔ elˈbæːz, fæˈruːʔ]) (born January 2, 1938) is an Egyptian American space scientist who worked with NASA to assist in the planning of scientific exploration of the Moon, including the selection of landing sites for the Apollo missions and the training of astronauts in lunar observations and photography. He is married, has four daughters, and six grandchildren. El-Baz is the brother of Osama El-Baz, senior advisor to Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak. Currently, El-Baz is Research Professor and Director of the Center for R

Benjamin Franklin Mudge (August 11, 1817 – November 21, 1879) was an American lawyer, geologist and teacher. Briefly the mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts, he later moved to Kansas where he was appointed the first State Geologist. He led the first geological survey of the state in 1864, and published the first book on the geology of Kansas. He lectured extensively, and was department chair at the Kansas State Agricultural College (KSAC, now Kansas State University). He also avidly collected fossils, and was one of the first to systematically explore the Permian and Mesozoic biota in the geologic fo

Arthur Newell Strahler was a geoscience professor at Columbia University who in 1952 developed the Strahler Stream Order system for classifying streams according to the power of their tributaries. Strahler was largely responsible for the shift from qualitative to quantitative geomorphology during the mid 20th century.

Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (; French: [aɡasi]; May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-American biologist and geologist recognized as an innovative and prodigious scholar of Earth's natural history. Agassiz grew up in Switzerland. He received doctor of philosophy and medical degrees at Erlangen and Munich, respectively. After studying with Cuvier and Humboldt in Paris, Agassiz was appointed professor of natural history at the University of Neuchâtel. He emigrated to the United States in 1847 after visiting Harvard University. He went on to become professor of zoology and geology at Harv

Shen Kuo (Chinese: 沈括; 1031–1095) or Shen Gua, courtesy name Cunzhong (存中) and pseudonym Mengqi (now usually given as Mengxi) Weng (夢溪翁), was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman of the Song dynasty (960–1279). Excelling in many fields of study and statecraft, he was a mathematician, astronomer, meteorologist, geologist, entomologist, zoologist, botanist, pharmacologist, medical scientist, agronomist, archaeologist, ethnographer, cartographer, geographer, geophysicist, mineralogist, encyclopedist, military general, diplomat, hydraulic engineer, inventor, economist, academy chancellor,

James Arthur Gibbons (born December 16, 1944) is an American attorney, aviator, geologist, hydrologist and politician. He served as the 28th Governor of the U.S. state of Nevada from 2007 to 2011. He is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, having served from 1997 to 2006. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Anthony Bryan Hayward (born 21 May 1957) is a British businessman and former chief executive of oil and energy company BP. He replaced John Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley, on 1 May 2007. His tenure ended on 1 October 2010 when he was replaced by Bob Dudley following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He has been chairman of Glencore Xstrata since May 2014.

John Wright Hickenlooper Jr. (; born February 7, 1952) is an American politician, businessman, and geologist who was the 42nd governor of Colorado from 2011 to 2019. He is a member of the Democratic Party. In 2019, Hickenlooper campaigned for the 2020 Democratic nomination for the president of the United States but dropped out before any primaries were held. He subsequently announced his candidacy for the United States Senate in 2020 against one-term incumbent Republican Cory Gardner. Born in Narberth, Pennsylvania, Hickenlooper is a graduate of Wesleyan University. After his career as a geolo

John Melvin See Jr. was the husband of Linda McCartney.

David McCurdy Baird, (born July 28, 1920) is a Canadian geologist, photographer, and academic. He is the older brother to Dr. Kenneth Baird.

Sir Thomas Henry Holland (22 November 1868 – 15 May 1947) was a British geologist who worked in India with the Geological Survey of India, serving as its director from 1903 to 1910. He later worked as an educational administrator at Edinburgh University.

Joseph Beete Jukes, born to John and Sophia Jukes at Summer Hill, Birmingham, England, was a renowned geologist, author of several geological manuals and served as a naturalist on the expeditions of HMS Fly. Jukes was educated at Wolverhampton, King Edward's School, Birmingham and St John's College, Cambridge. At Cambridge Jukes studied geology under Professor Adam Sedgwick. Between 1839 and 1840, Jukes geologically surveyed Newfoundland. A book he wrote, Excursions In and About Newfoundland During the Years 1839 and 1840, bore the fruit of what he had discovered and learned while he surveyed.

Clarence Rivers King (January 6, 1842 – December 24, 1901) was an American geologist, mountaineer, and author. He served as the first director of the United States Geological Survey from 1879 to 1881. King was noted for his exploration of the Sierra Nevada.

Willis Stanley Blatchley was an American entomologist, malacologist and geologist. In his biological work, Willis Blatchley made contributions to the study of Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, and the freshwater molluscs of Indiana. Though born in Connecticut, his parents moved to Indiana in 1860, the year after his birth. He attended high school in Bainbridge and enrolled at Indiana University in 1883, graduating with a B.A. in 1887 and an M.A. in 1891. There he worked under ichthyologist David Starr Jordan and geologist John Casper Branner. Blatchley received an honorary degree from Indiana

Catherine Joséphine "Katia" Krafft (née Conrad; 17 April 1942 – 3 June 1991) and her husband, Maurice Paul Krafft (25 March 1946 – 3 June 1991), were French volcanologists who died in a pyroclastic flow on Mount Unzen, in Japan, on June 3, 1991. The Kraffts were known for being pioneers in filming, photographing and recording volcanoes, often getting within feet of lava flows. Their obituary appeared in the Bulletin of Volcanology. Werner Herzog's documentary Into the Inferno mentions them.

Robert M. Schoch is an associate professor of Natural Science at the College of General Studies, a two-year non-degree granting unit of Boston University. He is a proponent of the Sphinx water erosion hypothesis.

Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski (27 May 1876 – 3 January 1945) was a Polish writer, explorer, university professor, and anti-Communist political activist. He is best known for his books about Lenin and the Russian Civil War in which he participated.

Harry Glicken (March 7, 1958 – June 3, 1991) was an American volcanologist. He researched Mount St. Helens in the United States before and after its 1980 eruption, and was very distraught about the death of fellow volcanologist David A. Johnston, who had switched shifts with Glicken so that the latter could attend an interview. In 1991, while conducting avalanche research on Mount Unzen in Japan, Glicken and fellow volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft were killed by a pyroclastic flow. His remains were found four days later, and were cremated in accordance with his parents' request. Glicken

Lucas Barrett (14 November 1837 – 19 December 1862) was an English naturalist and geologist.Barrett was born in London and educated at University College School. He went to Ebersdorf, near Lobenstein, Vogtland, Germany in 1853, studying botany and chemistry for a year. In 1855, he accompanied Robert MacAndrew on a dredging excursion from the Shetland Islands to Norway and beyond the Arctic Circle; he subsequently made other cruises, to Greenland and to the coast of Spain. These expeditions laid the foundations of an extensive knowledge of the distribution of marine life. James Scott Bowerbank