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.

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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. 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 María Casanova de Chaudet (1899–1947), Italian-born Argentine geologist, director of Argentina's first petrographic laboratory 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