This page lists in alphabetical order over 100 men and women who have made key contributions to the science of geology.
| Surname | Forename(s) | Lived | Nationality | Area of Expertise |
| Agassiz | John Louis Rudolphe | 1807-1873 | Swiss | Specialised in fossil fish |
| Airy | George Biddell | 1801-1892 | British | Worked on theories of isostasy |
| Ameghino | Florentino | 1854-1911 | Argentine | Described more than 6000 fossil species from South America |
| Andrews | Roy Chapman | 1884-1960 | US | Pioneered dinosaur discoveries in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and China |
| Anning | Mary | 1799-1848 | British | Discovered numerous icthyosaur and mother marine reptile fossils at Lyme Bay, England |
| Atherston | William Guybon | 1813-1898 | South African | Pioneered the South African diamond industry |
| Bailey | Edward Battersby, Sir | 1881-1965 | British | Studied the igneous and sedimentary rocks of the Grampians, Scotland |
| Barrow | George | 1853-1932 | British | Studied the processes of regional metamorphisms in Scotland |
| Becke | Friedrich Johann Karl | 1855-1931 | Czech | Developed principles of refraction |
| Benioff | Hugo | 1899-1968 | US | Designed seismology equipment |
| Berman | Tobern Olof | 1735-1784 | Swedish | Studied the formation of rocks and minerals |
| Bernoulli | Daniel | 1700-1782 | Swiss | Developed science of hydrodynamics |
| Blackett | Patrick Maynard Stuart | 1897-1974 | British | Developed science of palaeomagnetism |
| Boltwood | Bertram Borden | 1870-1927 | US | Developed ageing tests for rocks by measuring residual radioactivity |
| Bouguer | Pierre | 1698-1758 | French | Developed measurements for gravitational anomolies |
| Bowen | Norman Levi | 1887-1956 | Canadian | Produced a classic work on the chemistry of igneous rocks |
| Bowerbank | James Scott | 1777-1877 | British | Produced extensive studies of the fossils of the London Clay |
| Brogger | Waldemar Christofer | 1851-1940 | Norwegian | Developed theory of magmatic differentiation |
| Brongniart | Alexandre | 1770-1847 | French | Developed principle of stratification |
| Broom | Robert | 1866-1951 | British | Named two South African dinosaurs and made significant discoveries about mammal-like reptiles |
| Brown | Barnum | 1873-1963 | US | Discovered and named ten North American dinosaurs |
| Buckland | William, Reverend | 1784-1856 | British | Produced a classic work on historical geology |
| Carnegie | Andrew | 1835-1919 | British | Donated dinosaur skeletons and replicas to many world museums |
| Carpenter | William Benjamin | 1813-1885 | British | Investigated the structure of fossil shells |
| Chamberlin | Thomas Chrowder | 1843-1928 | US | Developed theoris for orogeny |
| Clarke | Frank Wigglesworth | 1847-1931 | US | Developed science of geochemistry |
| Clarke | William Branwhite | 1798-1878 | British | Surveyed the geology of New South Wales Australia |
| Colonna | Fabio | 1567-1650 | Italian | First to recognise fossil shark teeth |
| Conybeare | William Daniel | 1787-1857 | British | Co-author of the classic work Outline of the Geology of England and Wales |
| Cope | Edward Drinker | 1840-1897 | US | Discovered or named thirteen North American dinosaurs |
| Cuvier | Chretien Frederic Dagobert (Georges), Baron | 1769-1832 | French | Developed the science of comparative anatomy for the study of fossils |
| Davis | William Morris | 1850-1934 | US | Developed the principle of geomorphology |
| de Charpentier | Jean | 1786-1855 | Swiss | Studied glaciation |
| de Dolomieu | Deodat de Gratet | 1750-1801 | French | Named the Dolomite Alps |
| de la Beche | Henry Thomas | 1796-1855 | British | Founder of the British Geological Survey |
| de Lamarck | Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier | 1744-1829 | French | Developed first theory of evolution |
| de Saussure | Horace Benedict | 1740-1799 | Swiss | Studied the structure of the Alps |
| Desmarest | Nicholas | 1725-1815 | French | Studied basalts and lava flows |
| Dietz | Robert Sinclair | 1914-1995 | US | Studied magnetic anomaly patterns in the Pacific |
| d'Orbigny | Alcide Dessalines | 1802-1857 | French | Described some 18,000 fossils from South America |
| Dokuchaev | Vasily Vasilievich | 1840-1903 | Russian | Deverloped a classification of soil types |
| Dollo | Louis | 1857-1931 | Belgian | Reconstructed the first complete Iguanadon |
| Douglass | Earl | 1862-1931 | US | Discovered Dinosaur National Monument in Utah USA and 7 dinosaur skeletons |
| Du Toit | James Alexander Logie | 1878-1948 | South African | Studied continental drift |
| Dutton | Clarence Edward | 1841-1912 | US | Introduced the term isostasy |
| Elie de Beaumont | Leonce | 1798-1874 | French | Developed the idea of period of orogency |
| Ewing | Maurice | 1906-1974 | US | Developed offshore seismic reflection profiling |
| Gaudry | Albert | 1827-1908 | French | Described the fossils of Greece |
| Geikie | Archibald | 1835-1924 | British | Studied glacial and fluvial erosion |
| Gesner | Conrad | 1516-1565 | German | Compiled the first catalogue of fossils |
| Gilbert | Grove Karl | 1843-1918 | US | Developed the theory of crustal isostatic compensation |
| Glinka | Konstantin Dimitrievich | 1867-1927 | Russian | Developed Dokuchaev's work on soil types |
| Goethe | Johann Wolfgang | 1749-1832 | German | Pioneered morphology, the study of the form of an organism |
| Goldschmidt | Victor Moritz | 1888-1947 | Norwegian | Developed basic techniques for geochemistry |
| Gutenberg | Beno | 1889-1960 | German | Discovered the seismic discontinuity between the mantle and core |
| Hall | James | 1761-1832 | British | Pioneer of experimental petrology |
| Hauy | Abbe Renee-Just | 1743-1822 | French | One of the founders of modern crystallography |
| Heezen | Bruce Charles | 1924-1977 | US | Studied oceanic axial ridge systems |
| Hennig | Edwin (Willi) | 1913-1976 | German | Excavated dinosaur fossils from German East Africa |
| Hess | Harry Hammond | 1906-1969 | US | Introduced the concept of sea-floor spreading |
| Holmes | Arthur | 1890-1965 | British | Developed radiometric dating techniques |
| Hooke | Robert | 1635-1703 | British | Studied gravity fossils geomagnetism crystallography and earthquakes |
| Hutton | James | 1726-1797 | British | Developed principle of uniformitarianism |
| Huxley | Thomas H | 1825-1895 | British | Showed similarities between dinosaurs and birds |
| Knorr | Georg Wolfgang | 1705-1761 | German | Artist who contributed to the first catalogue of fossils containing colour illustrations |
| Kuenen | Philip Henry | 1902-1972 | Dutch | One of the founders of modern sedimentology |
| Lacroix | Alfred | 1863-1948 | French | Vulcanologist who described the phenomenon 'nuee ardente' |
| Lartet | Edouard-Armand | 1801-1871 | French | Pioneered methodical excavation principles for fossils |
| Le Pochon | Xavier | 1937- | French | First to recognise the six major tectonic plates |
| Lehmann | Inge | 1888-1993 | Danish | Proved by study of S-waves that the Earth's core is solid |
| Lehmann | Johann Gottlob | 1719-1767 | German | Worked on the stratigraphy of mountain rocks |
| Libby | Willard Frank | 1908-1980 | US | Introduced Carbon-14 dating |
| Linnaeus | Karl | 1707-1778 | Swedish | Introduced two name convention for species and laid the groundwork for taxonomic classification |
| Lindgren | Waldemar | 1860-1936 | Swedish | Introduced a classification of ore deposits according to their genesis |
| Lonsdale | William | 1774-1871 | British | Established the Devonian system |
| Love | Augustus Edward Hugh | 1853-1940 | US | Established that two types of surface seismic wave existed |
| Lydekker | Richard | 1849-1915 | British | Produced the classic work - A Manual of Palaeontology - for the British Museum |
| Lyell | Charles, Sir | 1797-1875 | British | Author of the classic work Principles of Geology |
| Mantell | Gideon Algernon | 1790-1852 | British | Discoverer of the dinosaur Iguanadon |
| Marsh | Othniel Charles | 1831-1899 | US | Discovered or named twenty five North American dinosaurs |
| Matuyama | Monotori | 1884-1958 | Japanese | Proposed that the Earth's magnetic field undergoes periodic reversals |
| Mercalli | Giuseppe | 1815-1914 | Italian | Developed scale of earthquake intensity |
| Mercati | Michele | 1541-1593 | Italian | Catalogued the Vatican's collection of fossils, minerals and prehistoric tools |
| Michell | John | 1724-1793 | British | Showed how to determine the epicentre of an earthquake |
| Miller | William Hallowes | 1801-1880 | British | Developed a classification system for crystallography based on axes |
| Milne | John | 1850-1913 | British | Worked on seismology and the recording of distant earthquakes |
| Mohorovicic | Andrija | 1857-1936 | Croatian | Discovered the seismic discontinuity between the crust and mantle |
| Mohs | Friedrich | 1773-1839 | German | Developed the decimal scale for the hardness of minerals |
| Murchison | Roderick Impey | 1792-1871 | British | Helped classify the Silurian Devonian and Permian systems |
| Neel | Louise Eugene Felix | 1904- | French | Discovered remnant palaeomagnetism in rocks |
| Nicol | William | 1768-1851 | British | Invented the calcite prism used in polarising microscopes |
| Niggli | Paul | 1888-1953 | Swiss | Introduced the use of phase diagrams in petrology |
| Oldham | Richard Dixon | 1858-1936 | British | Helped develop the interpretation of S-waves and P-waves |
| Oppel | Alfred | 1831-1865 | German | Developed principle of zones within strata and the term index fossils |
| Osborn | Henry Fairfield | 1857-1935 | US | Developed the concept of adaptive radiation |
| Owen | Richard | 1804-1892 | British | Coined the name dinosaur and founded the Natural History Museum in London |
| Palissy | Bernard | 1510-1589 | French | Studied the marine fossils of the Ardeche region of France |
| Peale | Charles Willson | 1741-1827 | US | Described the mastodon fossils of the United States |
| Penck | Albrecht | 1858-1945 | German | Worked on Quaternary glacial land-forms |
| Penck | Walther | 1888-1923 | German | Worked on the structure of mountain ranges especially the Alps |
| Pratt | John Henry | 1811-1871 | British | Developed a model for isostatic anomalies in the lithosphere |
| Proust | Joseph Louis | 1754-1826 | French | Worked on the characteristics of elements and chemicals |
| Richter | Charles Francis | 1900-1985 | US | Developed the scale for measuring the magnitude of earthquakes |
| Romer | Alfred Sherwood | 1894-1973 | US | Specialised in the evolution of vertebrates |
| Runcorn | Stanley Keith | 1922-1995 | British | Proved that North America and Europe were once joined |
| Scheuchzer | Johann Jacob | 1672-1733 | Swiss | Worked on fossil fish and plants |
| Schindewolf | Otto H | 1896-1971 | German | Made extensive studies of ammonites and their evolutionary history |
| Sedgwick | Adam | 1785-1873 | British | Developed the stratigraphy of North Wales |
| Seeley | Harry Govier | 1839-1909 | British | Named nine dinosaurs and introduced the orders Ornithischia and Saurischia |
| Shoemaker | Eugene Merle | 1928-1997 | US | Developed the science of astrogeology |
| Simpson | George Gaylord | 1902-1984 | US | Specialised in mammalian evolution |
| Smith | William | 1769-1839 | British | Pioneer of stratigraphy |
| Sorby | Henry Clifton | 1926-1908 | British | Developed the study of rocks using thin sections |
| Sowerby | John | 1757-1822 | British | Illustrator who described many British fossils and contributed to the classic work, British Mineralogy |
| Sowerby | James De Carle | 1787-1871 | British | Son of James, he completed his father's work on the Mineral Conchology of Great Britain |
| Srutt | John William, Lord Rayleigh | 1842-1919 | British | Studied radioactivity in rocks |
| Stenson | Niels | 1638-1687 | Danish | Described the stratigraphy of Tuscany |
| Stile | Wilhelm Hans | 1876-1976 | German | Worked in the field of orogeny |
| Suess | Eduard | 1831-1914 | Austrian | Published the classic work Das Antlitz der Erde (Face of the Earth) |
| Taylor | Frank Bursley | 1860-1939 | US | Glaciologist and developed theory of continental drift |
| Twenhofel | William Henry | 1875-1957 | US | Published the classic work Treatise on Sedimentation |
| van Beneden | Pierre-Joseph | 1809-1894 | Belgian | Catalogued and prepared the Bernissart Iguanadons |
| Vening-Meinesz | Felix Andries | 1887-1966 | Dutch | Discovered large negative gravity anomalies over the Java Trench |
| Vogt | Johan Hermann Lie | 1858-1932 | Norwegian | Produced important work on differentiation in cooling magmas |
| von Humboldt | Friedrich Heinrich Alexander | 1769-1859 | German | Contributed to the study of volcanoes |
| Walsch | Johann Emmanuel | 1724-1778 | German | Wrote the first catalogue of fossils to include colour illustrations |
| Wegener | Alfred | 1880-1930 | German | Developed the principle of continental drift |
| Werner | Abraham Gottlob | 1750-1817 | German | Developed a system of mineral classification based on external characteristics |
| Whewell | William | 1794-1866 | British | Introduced the term uniformitarianism |
| Wiechert | Emil | 1861-1928 | German | Developed the seismograph to distinguish between P & S-waves |
| Wollaston | William Hyde | 1766-1828 | British | Discovered the minerals Palladium and Rhodium |
| Woodward | Sir Arthur Smith | 1864-1944 | British | Produced major works on Argentine dinosaurs |
