List of geologists
The list of geologists is an alphabetical list of famous or outstanding geologists or geoscientists. Many of them have received awards such as the Gustav Steinmann Medal , the Penrose Medal or the Wollaston Medal or have been accepted into learned societies such as the National Academy of Sciences or the Royal Society .
The geosciences include the following sub-disciplines: geochemistry , geophysics , geomorphology , glaciology , hydrology , hydrogeology , oceanography , mineralogy , petrology , crystallography , paleontology , paleobotany , paleoclimatology , palynology , sedimentology , soil science , stratigraphy and volcanology .
The listed personality is a geologist unless otherwise specified.
The list does not claim to be complete.
A.
- Hermann von Abich (1806–1886), German mineralogist
- Louis Agassiz (1807–1873), Swiss / American geologist, research on ice ages , glaciers and Lake Agassiz
- Georgius Agricola (Georg Bauer) (1494–1555), German naturalist and “father of mineralogy ”, author of De re metallica
- George Biddell Airy (1801-1892), English mathematician and astronomer, geophysical studies (determined the mean density of the earth, principle of isostasy )
- Friedrich von Alberti (1795–1878), German geologist, defined the Triassic
- Albertus Magnus (to 1200-1280), a polymath who wrote treatise about minerals De minerabilibus
- Claude Allègre (* 1937), French geochemist , recipient of several awards
- Fernando Flávio Marques de Almeida (1916–2013), important research on the geology of South America
- Walter Alvarez (* 1940), USA, author of T. Rex and the Crater of Doom
- Otto Ampferer (1875–1947), Austrian tectonist, created the undercurrent theory
- Roy Chapman Andrews (1884–1960), American explorer and naturalist, Dinosaurs of Mongolia
- Mary Anning (1799–1847), English pioneer in collecting fossils
- Adolphe d'Archiac (1802–1868), French paleontologist , awarded the Wollaston Medal
- Giovanni Arduino (1714–1795), Italian, first definition of the geological time scale
- Émile Argand (1879–1940), Swiss tectonist, did important work on the construction of the Alps and the geology of Asia
- Richard Lee Armstrong (1937–1991), American / Canadian geochemist
- Tanya Atwater (* 1942), California, USA, geophysicist , marine geologist, specialist in plate tectonics
- Avicenna (Abū Alī al-Husayn ibn Abdullāh ibn Sīnā) (980-1037), Persian philosopher and scholar, wrote a book about the formation of rocks
B.
- Ralph Alger Bagnold (1896–1990), British engineer and geomorphologist, pioneer of desert research
- Andrew Geddes Bain (1797–1864), South African, created the first detailed geological map of South Africa
- Robert Bakewell (1767–1843), England, author of early textbooks on geology and mineralogy
- Anthony R. Barringer (1925–2009), Canadian / American geophysicist and inventor
- Thomas FW Barth (1899–1971), Norwegian mineralogist, petrologist and geochemist, important work on feldspars , wrote a textbook on petrology
- Florence Bascom (1862–1945), USA, first female geologist with the US Geological Survey
- Élie de Beaumont (1798–1874), French geologist. Geological map of France.
- Sir Henry Thomas de la Bèche (1796–1855), English geologist, studies in Jamaica , first director of the British Geological Survey , detailed geological exploration of England
- Johann Joachim Becher (1635–1682), German alchemist and universal scholar, depiction of coke and tar from coal
- Richard Beck (1858–1919), German geologist, professor at the Bergakademie Freiberg, rector from 1911 to 1913
- Robert Bell (1841–1917), is considered Canada's most important explorer
- Walter A. Bell (1889–1969), Canadian paleobotanist and stratigraph
- Wladimir Wladimirowitsch Belousov (1907–1990), Soviet geologist, consistent exponent of fixism
- Etheldred Benett (1776–1845), English paleontologist
- Torbern Olof Bergman (1735–1784), Swedish chemist and mineralogist, works on mineral analysis, classification of rocks
- Marcel Alexandre Bertrand (1847–1907), French geologist, made significant contributions to the development of ceiling theory
- Pierre Berthier (1782–1861), French geologist, discovered the properties of bauxite
- Heinrich Ernst Beyrich (1815–1896), German geologist and paleontologist, founding member of the German Geological Society , established the Oligocene
- Max Blanckenhorn (1861–1947), German geologist, is considered the father of Egyptian geology
- Bruce Bolt (1930–2005), USA (native Australian), innovator of seismological techniques in California
- José Bonaparte (1928–2020), Argentine paleontologist , discoverer of many South American dinosaur species
- Norman L. Bowen (1887–1956), Canada, pioneer of experimental petrology
- Scipione Breislak (1750–1826), Italian mineralogist and geologist (German origin), pioneer in the sampling of volcanic gases
- J Harlen Bretz (1882-1981), USA could, the emergence of the Channeled Scablands enlighten
- Roland Brinkmann (1898–1995), German geologist
- Wallace S. Broecker (1931–2019), American paleoclimatologist and chemical oceanographer
- Waldemar Christofer Brøgger (1851–1940), Norwegian geologist and mineralogist, working in the Oslo Trench, differentiating igneous rocks
- Alexandre Brongniart (1770–1847), French mineralogist and geologist, works on the Paris Basin and the Swiss Jura
- Robert Broom (1866–1951), South African paleontologist , discoverer of australopithecines
- Barnum Brown (1873–1963), USA, famous dinosaur collector and amateur paleontologist
- Serge von Bubnoff (1888–1957), German geologist, professor in Greifswald and Berlin
- Christian Leopold von Buch (1774-1853), German geologist and paleontologist , defined the Jura
- William Buckland (1784-1856), English geologist and mineralogist, wrote the first complete treatise on a fossil dinosaur
- Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (1707–1788), French naturalist and botanist , Théorie de la terre , monumental natural history
- Edward C. Bullard (1907–1980), English nuclear physicist and geophysicist, did important work on the theory of geodynamo, demonstrated the good fit of the continental shelves
- Kurd von Bülow (1899–1971), German geologist
- Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (1811–1899), German chemist, dealt with geological issues (magma formation) in old age
- B. Clark Burchfiel (* 1934), USA, structural geologist at MIT , investigates a. a. the Tibetan Plateau
C.
- Colin J. Campbell (* 1931), British petroleum geologist , theorist of the global maximum oil production
- Samuel Warren Carey (1911–2002), Australian geologist, developed the expansion theory
- Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin (1843–1928), American geologist, founder of the Journal of Geology , planetesimal theory , "pulsation theory" to explain orogenic cycles
- Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois (1819–1886), France, geologist and mineralogist
- Johann von Charpentier (1786–1855), German-Swiss geologist and glaciologist, did important work on the Pleistocene glaciation of the Alps
- Thomas H. Clark (1893–1996), Canada, co-author of The Geological Evolution of North America (1960)
- William Branwhite Clarke (1798–1878), British clergyman and geologist, is considered the father of geology in Australia
- Hans Cloos (1885–1951), famous German tectonist
- Lorence G. Collins (* 1931), American petrologist , made important discoveries in the field of metasomatosis
- Simon Conway Morris (* 1951), paleontologist and writer
- William Daniel Conybeare (1787–1857), England, author of Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales (1822), established the Carboniferous
- Isabel Clifton Cookson (1893–1973), Australian paleobotanist and palynologist , a botanical award bears her name
- Edward Drinker Cope (1840–1897), USA, pioneer of dinosaur paleontology, adversary of the Bone Wars
- Louis Cordier (1777–1861), French mining engineer, first measurement of temperature increase with depth
- Bernhard von Cotta (1808–1879), German geologist and mining scientist, completed the geological map of Saxony and contributed to the formation of granite and veins
- Vincent Courtillot (* 1948), French geophysicist.
- James Croll (1821–1890), Scottish autodidact and naturalist, recognized the connection between the Ice Age and Earth orbit
- Georges Cuvier (1769–1832), France, proponent of catastrophism
D.
- G. Brent Dalrymple (* 1937), American geophysicist, author of The Age of the Earth (1991)
- Reginald Aldworth Daly (1871–1957), Canadian geologist, theory of igneous rocks , collision theory of the formation of the moon
- James Dwight Dana (1813–1895), USA, author of the System of Mineralogy (1837)
- Charles Darwin (1809–1882), British naturalist, author of On the Origin of Species , theory of the formation of coral reefs
- William Morris Davis (1850–1934), American engineer and natural scientist, did important work on the geomorphology of rivers
- George Mercer Dawson (1849–1901), Canada, initial geological exploration of the Yukon
- John William Dawson (1820–1899), Canada, first geological exploration of Acadia
- Gérard Paul Deshayes (1795–1875), French paleontologist, head of the Natural History Museum in Paris, structure of the tertiary
- René Descartes (1596–1650), French philosopher, mathematician and natural scientist, theory of earth evolution
- Nicolas Desmarest (1725–1815), France, pioneer of volcanology
- William R. Dickinson (1931–2015), Arizona, USA, plate tectonics , Colorado Plateau
- Robert S. Dietz (1914–1995), USA, pioneer of ocean floor spreading
- Ignacio Domeyko (1802-1889), Chilean geologist and mineralogist of Polish descent; Author of numerous works on the geology and mineralogy of Chile
- Paul Dorn (geologist) (1901–1959), author of the geology of Central Europe
- Aleksis Dreimanis (1914–2011), Latvia and Canada, Quaternary geologist , recipient of several awards
- Alexander Du Toit (1878–1948), South African geologist, supporter of continental drift , comparative studies on South Africa-South America
- Clarence Dutton (1841-1912), USA, author of Tertiary History of the Grand Canyon District , introduced the concept of isostasy a
E.
- László Egyed (1914–1970), Hungarian geophysicist, founder of the expansion theory of the earth
- Niles Eldredge (* 1943), American paleontologist ; Punctualism theory
- Jean-Baptiste Léonce Élie de Beaumont (1798–1874), France, created the first geological map of France
- W. Gary Ernst (* 1931), USA, petrologist and geochemist from Stanford University
- Arnold Escher von der Linth (1807–1872), Swiss geologist, recognized the Glarus thrust
- Robert Etheridge Jr. (1847–1920), Australian (born English) paleontologist , longtime curator of the Australian Museum
- James Alfred Ewing (1855–1935), Scottish physicist and engineer, earthquake research, developed seismographs
- Maurice Ewing (1906–1974), USA, groundbreaking innovations in geophysics and oceanography
F.
- Paul Fallot (1889–1960), French geologist and paleontologist, holder of the Leopold von Buch plaque
- Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (1741–1819), France, pioneer in the field of volcanology
- William George Fearnsides (1879–1968), British economic geologist and tectonist, conducted extensive studies in the Carboniferous and Paleozoic Great Britain
- Konstantin Matwejewitsch Feofilaktow (1818–1901); Russian geologist, researched the geology of Ukraine
- Osmond Fisher (1817–1914), British clergyman and geophysicist, postulated convection currents
- Robert L. Folk (1925-2018), American geologist and sedimentary petrologist , created the folk classification for carbonate rocks , author of the standard work Petrology of Sedimentary Rocks
- Richard Fortey (* 1946), England, trilobite paleontologist , writer
- Gerald M. Friedman (1921–2011), German / American geologist and sedimentologist , major work on carbonate rocks , co-author of Principles of Sedimentology
- Georg Christian Füchsel (1722–1773), German geologist, advocate of actualism and one of the founders of stratigraphy, drew the first geological map in Germany (Thuringia) in 1762
- William Sefton Fyfe (1927–2013, New Zealand), Canada, geochemist
G
- Robert Minard Garrels (1916–1988), American geochemist , revolutionized wet geochemistry
- Gerard Jakob De Geer (1858–1943), Swedish geologist, used the Warventon method to date the ice retreat in Scandinavia
- Sir Archibald Geikie (1835-1924), British geologist
- James Geikie (1839–1915), British geologist, brother of Archibald Geikie and known for his ice age research
- Conrad Gessner (1516–1565), Swiss physician and naturalist, wrote a treatise on minerals
- Grove Karl Gilbert (1843–1918), USA, influential geologist of the American West
- James Edward Gill (1901–1980), Canada, Professor at McGill University , explorer
- Friedrich Gottlob Gläser (1749–1804), German mining engineer, used next to Christian Hieronymus Lommer as one of the first colors in a geological map
- Heinrich Göppert (1800–1884), German doctor, palaeobotanist, investigations into the coal deposits of Silesia
- Victor Moritz Goldschmidt (1888–1947), Norway (born in Switzerland), one of the founders of modern geochemistry
- Amadeus William Grabau (1870–1946), German-American paleontologist and geologist, mapping of China , theories on rhythms in the growth of the earth's crust and on mountain formation
- Alexander Henry Green (1832–1896), England, geological mapping of Derbyshire and Yorkshire
- George Bellas Greenough (1778–1855), English geologist, founder of the Geological Society of London , geological map of England , geological map of India 1854
- Amanz gressly (1814-1865), Swiss geologist and paleontologist, introduced the term facies one
- Sir Richard John Griffith (1784–1878), Irish geologist, published the geological map of Ireland in 1838
- David Tressel Griggs (1911–1974), American geophysicist, works on convection currents
- Frank Fitch Grout (1880-1958), American Petrologe, conducted experiments to diapirs by
- Carl Wilhelm von Gümbel (1823–1898), German geologist, researched the geology of Bavaria
- Jean-Étienne Guettard (1715–1786), French naturalist, created the first mineralogical-geological map (northwestern France and southern England) in 1746 together with Philippe Buache
- Beno Gutenberg (1889–1960), German-American seismologist , discoverer of the asthenosphere and the core-mantle boundary
H
- Julius von Haast (1822–1887), New Zealand (born German), founder of the Canterbury Museum
- Sir James Hall (1761–1832), Scottish geologist, President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- James Hall (1811–1898), USA, influential geologist and paleontologist, principle of the geosyncline
- Alfred Harker (1859-1939), English petrographer and Petrologe, extensive petrological studies in the west of Scotland led the eponymous diagrams a
- W. Brian Harland (1917-2003), England, polar geologist
- Émile Haug (1861–1927), Alsatian geologist, contributions to geosynclinal theory
- James Edwin Hawley (1897–1965), Canada, studied the mineralogy of ore deposits
- Frank Hawthorne (* 1946), Canadian mineralogist and crystallographer
- Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden (1829–1887), USA, pioneer of geology in the American West
- Bruce C. Heezen (1924–1977), American geologist, was the first to map the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
- Albert Heim (1849–1937), Swiss geologist, works on faults and fold thrusts
- Harry Hammond Hess (1906–1969), American geologist and oceanographer
- Henry Hicks (1837–1899), FRS , President of the Geological Society .
- Eugene W. Hilgard (1833–1916), USA (born German), soil scientist
- Paul F. Hoffman (* 1941), USA and Canada, developed the hypothesis of the snowball earth
- Arthur Holmes (1890–1965), England, author of Principles of Physical Geology
- Robert Hooke (1635–1703), English physicist and mathematician, pioneer of microscopic research, law of elasticity
- William Hopkins (1793–1866), English mathematician, physicist and geologist, founder of physical geology, denied a liquid interior of the earth below the crust
- Walter Hoppe (geologist) (1896–1976), German geologist and mineralogist, researcher of the hydrology of Thuringia
- Kenneth Jinghwa Hsü (* 1929), USA (native Chinese), author of The Mediterranean was a Desert (Hypothesis of the drying up of the Mediterranean)
- M. King Hubbert (1903–1989), USA, founded the theory of the " global oil production maximum "
- Thomas Sterry Hunt (1826–1892), American geologist and chemist, was the first to point out the dependence of climatic changes on atmospheric CO 2 content
- James Hutton (1726–1797), Scottish geologist, father of modern geology (father of modern geology)
I.
- Joseph Paxson Iddings (1857–1920), American petrologist, co-founder of the CIPW standard
- John Imbrie (1925–2016), paleoclimatologist, confirmation of the Milankovic theory of the ice ages. MacArthur Fellow .
- Edward A. Irving (1927–2014), Canadian, used paleomagnetic methods to detect continental drift
J
- Harold Jeffreys (1891–1989), English statistician and seismologist, provided evidence of a liquid outer core of the earth
- Ivan Jefremow (1908–1972), Soviet paleontologist and founder of taphonomy
- Albert Johannsen (1871–1962), American architect, geologist and petrograph , author of the monumental four-volume petrographic textbook A descriptive petrography of the igneous rocks
- David A. Johnston (1949-1980), USA, volcanologist, came the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens killed
- John Joly (1857–1933), Irish geologist and naturalist, studied radioactive decay in minerals
- Franc Joubin (1911–1997), Canada (* in the USA), discoverer of the uranium deposit at Elliot Lake
K
- Emanuel Kayser (1845–1927), German geologist and paleontologist, author of the world's leading four-volume "Textbook of Geology" at the time; first sponsor and geological support of Alfred Wegener's continental drift theory; Dispute about CO 2 levels in the atmosphere and climate change
- William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (1824–1907), British physicist, Earth Age estimation
- Alexander Keyserling (1815-1891), founder of the geology of Russia
- Clarence King (1842–1901), USA, first director of the US Geological Survey
- Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680), German natural historian and doctor, fossil studies
- James Kitching (1922–2003), South Africa, Karoo Vertebrate Paleontologist
- Sir Albert Ernest Kitson (1868–1937), Australian (born English) economic geologist, mineral prospecting in Africa
- Maria Wassiljewna Kljonowa (Klenova) (1898–1976), Russian marine geologist
- Lauge Koch (1892–1964), Danish geologist, mapped parts of Greenland
- Ralph von Koenigswald (1902–1982), German / Dutch geologist, examined the Java man
- Andrew H. Knoll (* 1951), USA, geologist and paleontologist from Harvard University
- Leon Knopoff (1925–2011), USA, theoretical seismology
- Katia Krafft (1942–1991), French volcanologist and documentary filmmaker
- Maurice Krafft (1946–1991), French volcanologist and documentary filmmaker
- Danie G. Krige (1919–2013), South African mining engineer , inventor of kriging
- MS Krishnan (1898–1970), Indian geologist
- Thomas Edvard Krogh (1936–2008), Canada, geochronologist , revolutionized the uranium-lead method for radiometric dating
- William C. Krumbein (1902–1979), USA, recognized sedimentologist
L.
- Alfred Lacroix (1863-1948), French mineralogist and geologist, published a treatise on the mineralogy of France, volcanic studies
- Charles Lapworth (1842–1920), English geologist, established the Ordovician , pioneering use of guide fossils
- Andrew Cowper Lawson (1861–1952), USA (* in Scotland), recognized and named the San Andreas Fault
- Richard Leakey (* 1944), Kenyan paleontologist
- Joseph LeConte (1823–1901), USA, first professor of geology at the University of California
- Robert Legget (1904–1994), Canadian writer, engineer and soil scientist
- Inge Lehmann (1888–1993), Danish seismologist, discoverer of the Lehmann discontinuity
- Johannes Lehmann-Hohenberg (1851–1925), German mineralogist and geologist, the formation process of metamorphic rocks, worked in the Saxon granulite mountains
- Johann Gottlob Lehmann (1719–1767), German geologist and mineralogist, is considered the founder of stratigraphy
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), German philosopher and polymath, his theory of the earth appeared posthumously as Protogaea
- Luna B. Leopold (1915-2006), eminent American hydrologist
- Xavier Le Pichon (* 1937), French plate tectonist , geophysicist
- Waldemar Lindgren (1860–1939), recognized Swedish / American geologist and mineralogist.
- Li Shizhen (1518–1593), Chinese mineralogist from the Ming dynasty, author of the Ben cao gang mu
- Martin Lister (1639–1712), England, pioneer of geology
- William Edmond Logan (1798–1875), Canada, founded the Geological Survey of Canada
- James Lovelock (* 1919), English scientist, inventor of the Gaia hypothesis
- Sir Charles Lyell (1797–1875), Scottish geologist, popularized actualism , established the Eocene , Miocene , Pleistocene and Pliocene
M.
- John MacCulloch (1773–1835), Scottish geologist, created the first geological map of Scotland (published posthumously in 1836)
- J. Ross Mackay (1915-2014), Canadian permafrost geologist
- William Maclure (1763–1840), published the first geological map of the USA (1809)
- Johann Christian Mahr (1787–1869), geologist and friend of Goethe
- Benoît de Maillet (1656–1738), French diplomat, developed an evolutionist theory of the earth and postulated a very old age
- Othniel Charles Marsh (1831–1899), USA, pioneer of dinosaur paleontology, opponent of the Bone Wars
- Kirtley Fletcher Mather (1888–1978) American petrogeologist and mineralogist, long-term professor at Harvard
- Drummond Matthews (1931–1997), British marine geologist and geophysicist, pioneer of plate tectonics
- Sir Douglas Mawson (1882-1958), Australian Antarctic explorer
- Sir Frederick McCoy (1817–1899), British and Australian paleontologist and museum director
- Dan McKenzie (* 1942), British geophysicist , pioneer of plate tectonics
- Digby McLaren (1919-2004), Canadian paleontologist
- Giuseppe Mercalli (1850–1914), Italian seismologist and volcanologist , developed the Mercallis scale to estimate the magnitude of the earthquake
- Hans Merensky (1871–1952), South African economic geologist, discovered important diamond, platinum, chrome and copper deposits, including the Merensky Reef
- John C. Merriam (1869–1945), USA, vertebrate paleontologist, examined fossils from the La Brea Tar Pits
- Auguste Michel-Lévy (1844–1911), French geologist, works on granites and neighboring metamorphic rocks
- John Michell (1724–1793), clergyman and professor at Cambridge, co-founder of seismology
- Gerard V. Middleton (* 1931), Canadian sedimentologist
- Milutin Milanković (1879–1958), Serbian astrophysicist and mathematician, established the connection between the earth's radiation balance and the ice ages
- Ludger Mintrop (1880–1956), founder of reflection seismics, for example in oil exploration
- Andrija Mohorovičić (1857–1936), Croatian meteorologist and seismologist , discoverer of the Mohorovičić discontinuity
- Friedrich Mohs (1773–1839), Germany, devised the Mohs hardness scale
- James Monger , Canadian Cordilleran Geologist
- W. Jason Morgan (* 1935), American pioneer of plate tectonics
- Anton Lazzaro Moro (1687–1764), Italian clergyman and early follower of Plutonism
- Roderick Murchison (1792–1871), Scotland, author of The Silurian System (1839), established the Devonian , Cambrian , Permian, and Silurian
- Emiliano Mutti (* 1933), Italian petroleum geologist
N
- Carl Friedrich Naumann (1797–1873), German geologist and crystallographer, created the first geological map of Saxony , the theory of inland freezing
- ER Ward Neale (1923–2008), Canadian geologist of the Atlantic Provinces
- Melchior Neumayr (1845–1890), German / Austrian paleontologist, worked on ammonites of the Jura and the Cretaceous, mapping in Greece and the Aegean
- John Strong Newberry (1822–1892), USA, explorer and geologist of the American West
- Isaac Newton (1643–1727), English philosopher and scientist, recognized the flattening of the earth
- William Nicol (1768–1851), Scottish naturalist, first use of thin sections in microscopy, generation of polarized light
- Adolphe Nicolas (1936–2020), French geologist, important tectonist, works on the deformation of mantle rocks
- Paul Niggli (1888–1953), Swiss geoscientist and crystallographer, introduced the Niggli values for rock normalization, important contributions to crystallography ( Niggli formula , term of the lattice complex )
- Stephen Robert Nockolds (1909–1990), petrologist, FRS and recipient of the Murchison Medal
- Nils Gustaf Nordenskiöld (1792–1866), Finnish / Russian mineralogist
O
- Rudolf Oberhauser (1926–2008), Austrian micropalaeontologist and geologist, editor of the standard work The Geological Structure of Austria
- Hans Oeschger (1927–1998), Swiss climatologist, pioneer in researching Quaternary ice cores , co-discoverer of the Dansgaard-Oeschger events
- Richard Dixon Oldham (1858–1936), Irish geophysicist and geologist, was able to differentiate between P and S waves and assumed the existence of a liquid core
- Thomas Oldham (1816–1878) Irish geologist, first director of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) , founded the journal Palaeontographica Indica at GSI
- Jean Baptiste Julien d'Omalius d'Halloy (1783–1875), Belgian politician and geologist, first geological map of France. He coined the term chalk .
- Albert Oppel (1831–1865), German paleontologist and stratigraph, conducted studies in the law
- Alcide d'Orbigny (1802–1857), French paleontologist and zoologist, studies on foraminifera , father of micropaleontology
- Carl Alfred Osann (1859–1923), German mineralogist and petrologist, petrographic work on igneous rocks, developed the ACF diagram for rock classification
- Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857–1935), American geologist and paleontologist
- John Ostrom (1928–2005), American dinosaur paleontologist, discoverer of the homoiothermic Deinonychus
- David Dale Owen (1807–1860), American geologist, first geological surveys in the states of Indiana, Kentucky and Arkansas
- Richard Owen (1804-1892), British zoologist and paleontologist, coined the term dinosaur
P
- Werner Paeckelmann (1890–1952), German geologist, paleontologist and map-maker in the Rhenish Slate Mountains
- Pierre Bernard Palassou (1745-1830), French geologist, created mineralogical maps of the Pyrenees
- Peter Simon Pallas (1741–1811), German naturalist and geographer , geological interpretation of the Urals , after him the Pallasites were named
- Clair Cameron Patterson (1922–1995), USA, geochemist, fought against lead poisoning
- Albrecht Penck (1858–1945), German geomorphologist, examined the inland ice masses in Northern Germany
- Walther Penck (1888–1923), German geomorphologist, son of Albrecht Penck, studied the tectonic and erosive effects on geomorphology
- Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose, Jr. (1863–1931), United States, mining geologist, Penrose Medal donor
- Francis John Pettijohn (1904–1999), USA, sedimentologist
- John Phillips (1800–1874), Yorkshire geologist
- John Arthur Phillips (1822-1887), FRS, Cornwall geologist, metallurgist and mining engineer
- Wallace S. Pitcher (1919-2004), British petrologist and eminent granite researcher
- Walter C. Pitman (1931–2019), American engineer and geophysicist, pioneer of plate tectonics , was able to demonstrate the symmetry of the magnetic stripe pattern on the mid-ocean ridge
- Robert Plot (1640–1696), English naturalist and chemist, researching minerals
- John Wesley Powell (1834–1902), United States, former soldier, mapped the Colorado River , second director of the USGS .
- John Henry Pratt (1809–1871), English theologian and mathematician, theory of isostatic balance
- Frank Press (1924-2020), American geophysicist
- Joseph Prestwich (1812-1896), British geologist; probably the last major proponent of catastrophic notions in 19th century geology
- Raymond A. Price (* 1933), Canadian tectonist
- Raphael Pumpelly (1837-1923), USA, geologist and explorer
Q
- Friedrich August von Quenstedt (1809–1889), German paleontologist and geologist, structure of the Jura
- Terence Thomas Quirke (1886–1947), English / American geologist, conducted extensive studies in the Precambrian of Ontario
R.
- Paul Ramdohr (1890–1985), German mineralogist and deposit researcher , pioneer of ore microscopy
- John G. Ramsay (* 1931), British tectonist, important work on the Caledonids of Scotland , author of several standard works on tectonics
- Frederick Leslie Ransome (1868–1935), USA (born English), outstanding economic geologist at the USGS
- David M. Raup (1933–2015), USA, paleontologist , specialist in mass extinction; Author of Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck?
- Herbert Harold Read (1889–1970), English petrologist, important work on metamorphic rocks and the origin of granite
- Hans-Erich Reineck (1918–1999), German geologist and sedimentologist, extensive work in the Wadden Sea , invented the box gripper, author of the standard work Depositional Sedimentary Environments
- Charles Francis Richter (1900–1985), American seismologist, inventor of the Richter 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
- Alfred Romer (1894–1973), American paleontologist, made significant contributions to the development of vertebrates
- Karl Heinrich Rosenbusch (1836–1914), German mineralogist, petrograph and geologist, developed the first petrographic microscope made in Germany
- Stanley Keith Runcorn (1922–1995), British / American geophysicist and pioneer of plate tectonics
S.
- Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen (1809–1876), German geologist, studies on Etna and in Iceland , theory of magma formation
- Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740–1799), Swiss naturalist and botanist, founder of modern alpine research
- Harrison Schmitt (* 1935), USA, first geologist on the moon ( Apollo 17 )
- Martin Schwarzbach (1907-2003), German paleoclimatologist
- Jakob Johannes Sederholm (1863–1934), Finnish petrologist, works on Rapakivi granite and migmatite
- Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873), England, established the Devonian and Cambrian periods
- Nicholas Shackleton (1937-2006), British geologist and climatologist
- Shen Kuo (1031-1095), Chinese polymath , pioneer of the magnetic compass , theoretical geomorphology
- Eugene Merle Shoemaker (1928–1997), USA, meteorite researcher, co-discoverer of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
- Raymond Siever (1923-2004), American sedimentologist
- Haraldur Sigurðsson (* 1939), Icelandic geologist, volcanologist and oceanologist
- George Gaylord Simpson (1902–1984), USA, outstanding palaeontologist
- Ulbo de Sitter (1902–1980), Dutch geologist, investigations in the Alps and the Pyrenees
- William Smith (1769–1839), founding father of English geology
- Su Song (1020-1101), Chinese naturalist and polymath , wrote treatises on metallurgy and mineralogy
- Henry Clifton Sorby (1826–1908), English naturalist, is considered to be the founder of sedimentology , the mechanical origin of foliation
- Gustav Steinmann (1856–1929), German geologist, described the common occurrence of silica sediments, red deep sea clay and pillow basalts in the Alps ( Steinmann Trinity )
- Alfred Wilhelm Stelzner (1840–1895), German geologist, professor at the Bergakademie Freiberg
- Nicolaus Steno (1638–1686), Denmark, pioneer of modern geology
- Hans Stille (1876–1966), German geologist, professor in Berlin. Geotectonics and mountain building. Opponent of Alfred Wegener.
- Otto Stutzer (1881–1936), German geologist, professor at the Bergakademie Freiberg
- Eduard Suess (1831–1914), Austria (* in England), principle of eustasy , tectonics of the Alps, created the terms Tethys and Gondwana
T
- Haroun Tazieff (1914–1998), French politician and volcanologist, documentaries about volcanic eruptions
- Paul Tapponnier (* 1947), French tectonist especially from Asia. Use of satellites for tectonic surveys.
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955), French paleontologist and philosopher, co-discoverer of the Peking man
- Pierre-Marie Termier (1859–1930), French geologist, proponent of ceiling theory , explanation of the Tauern window
- Karl von Terzaghi (1883–1963), Austrian geologist and engineer, is considered the founding father of soil mechanics
- Marie Tharp (1920–2006), co-discoverer of the mid-ocean ridge
- Lonnie Thompson (born 1948), USA, glaciologist and ice core - climatologist
- Raymond Thorsteinsson (1921–2012), Canada, Arctic geologist
- Phillip Tobias (1925–2012), South African paleanthropologist , pioneer of Homo habilis
- Alexander Tollmann (1928–2007), Austrian geologist and politician, Eastern Alps expert
- Otto Martin Torell (1828–1900), head of the Geological Survey of Sweden
- Wilhelm Toussaint von Charpentier (1779–1847), German geologist and entomologist, mining writings, colored geological map of Saxony
- Rudolf Trümpy (1921–2009), Swiss alpine geologist, recipient of the Wollaston and Penrose medals
- Francis John Turner (1904–1985), New Zealand, petrologist of igneous and metamorphic rocks
- Orville Frank Tuttle (1916–1983), American petrologist, pioneer of apparatus in experimental petrology, granite research
- Joseph Tyrrell (1858–1957), Canadian paleontologist , the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology was named after him
U
- Jan Umbgrove (1899–1954), Dutch geologist, studied the paleogeography of the Dutch East Indies
V
- Peter Vail (* 1930), American geologist, initiated sequence stratigraphy
- Charles Louis de la Vallée-Poussin (1827–1903), Belgian geologist and mineralogist
- Jan Veizer (* 1941), Canadian isotope geochemist
- Ignaz Venetz (1788–1859), Swiss engineer, botanist and glaciologist, co-founder of the Ice Age theory
- Felix Andries Vening Meinesz (1887–1966), Dutch geophysicist and specialist in gravimetric geodesy
- Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italian painter, sculptor, architect and natural philosopher. Explanation of fossil formation.
- Frederick Vine (* 1939), British marine geologist, geophysicist and pioneer of plate tectonics
- Wolf von Engelhardt (1910–2008), German geologist and mineralogist, worked in the unfolded molasse on the northern edge of the Alps, co-author of sediment petrology
W.
- Kiyoo Wadati (1902–1995), Japanese seismologist, first discoverer of the Wadati-Benioff zone
- Lawrence Wager (1904–1965), British geologist and explorer, discoverer of the Skaergaard intrusion
- Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850–1927), American paleontologist , explorer of the fauna of the Burgess Shale
- Gerald Joseph Wasserburg (1927–2016), American geologist, did important work in the field of isotope geochemistry, cosmochemistry and meteorology
- Thomas Webster (1773–1844), Scottish architect and geologist, works in the London Basin and the Hampshire Basin , beginning of historical geology
- Karl Hans Wedepohl (1925–2016), German geochemist, distribution of elements in the earth's crust
- Alfred Wegener (1880–1930), German meteorologist , pioneer of continental drift
- César Eugène Wegmann (1896–1982), Swiss geologist, formation of granites through migmatization
- Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817), Germany, founder of Neptunism
- Wladimir Ivanovich Wernadski (1863–1945), Russian pioneer of geochemistry and biogeochemistry
- Josiah Whitney (1819-1896), chief of the California Geological Survey , Mt. Whitney was named after him
- Emil Wiechert (1861–1928), German geophysicist and seismologist, professor in Göttingen
- Harold Williams (1934-2010), geologist for the Atlantic Provinces
- Howell Williams (1898–1980), American (born English) volcanologist
- Bailey Willis (1857–1949), American geologist, attempted explanation of the formation of the Appalachians
- John Tuzo Wilson (1908-1993), Canadian geophysicist and plate tectonist, works on hot spots , the Wilson cycle was named after him
- Paul Woldstedt (1888–1973), German Quaternary researcher
Y
- Had S. Yoder , Jr. (1921-2003), American petrologist and geochemist, experimentally conducted petrological studies under high pressure-high temperature conditions
Z
- Peter A. Ziegler (1928–2013), Swiss exploration geologist, examined the influence of tectonics on sedimentation
- Ferdinand Zirkel (1838–1912), German geologist, pioneer in the microscopic examination of minerals and rocks
- Karl Zoeppritz (1881–1908), German geophysicist, did important seismological work
- Henk Zwart (1924–2012), Dutch tectonist, investigation of ore formation processes
See also
literature
- David R. Oldroyd: The Biography of the Earth. On the history of science in geology. Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-86150-285-2 .