Scientists Who Study Rocks

These geologists are exploring granite rocks on a mountain ridge. Click on image for full size (24 Kb) USGS

Geology is the study of rocks and geologists are the people who study them! There are many different types of geologists. Some of the common types are listed below.

• Mineralogists study minerals.
• Petrologist study rocks.
• Structural geologist study how plate tectonics moves and squishes rocks.
• Paleontologists study Earth history and fossils.
• Stratigraphers study how layers of sedimentary rock form though geologic time.
• Geomorphologists study how the land surface is shaped by water, wind and ice.

What is a geologist like? Well, they are all very different. Click on the links below to get to know some famous geologists.

• Florence Bascom, a mineralogist and petrologist, led the way for American women geologists over 100 years ago.
• Charles Darwin was the first scientist to publish a comprehensive theory of evolution in the19th century.
• Stephen Jay Gould expanded Darwin's theory with his own concept of punctuated equilibrium in the 20th century.
• Friedrich Mohs, a mineralogist, developed a way to identify minerals by their hardness.
• Leonardo da Vinci did a little bit of everything! When he was not painting the Mona Lisa, he was a scientist and discovered how sedimentary rocks and fossils are formed.