Famous Geologists Quiz

Question 1

Author of Principles of Geology

Answer 1

Charles Lyell

Question 2

Father of Modern Geology

Answer 2

James Hutton

Question 3

Originator of Continental Drift Hypothesis

Answer 3

Alfred Wegener

Question 4

Particularly known for his contributions to ichthyological classification, including of extinct species such as megalodon, and to the study of historical geology, including the founding of glaciology.

Answer 4

Louis Agassiz

Question 5

Widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology.

Answer 5

Charles Darwin

Question 6

Discoveries included the first correctly identified ichthyosaur skeleton, the first two nearly complete plesiosaur skeletons, and the first pterosaur skeleton located outside Germany.

Answer 6

Mary Anning

Question 7

Father of English Geology

Answer 7

William Smith

Question 8

First woman geologist in America.

Answer 8

Florence Bascom

Question 9

Founding Father of Paleontology.

Answer 9

Georges Cuvier

Question 10

In the spring 1788, he was with Hutton and John Playfair on the boat trip east from his home at Dunglass along the Berwickshire coast to Siccar Point where they found the famous rock formation now known as Hutton’s Unconformity.

Answer 10

James Hall

Question 11

He is famous for his 1869 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.

Answer 11

John Wesley Powell

Question 12

His investigations and his subsequent conclusions on fossils and rock formation have led scholars to consider him one of the founders of modern stratigraphy and modern geology.

Answer 12

Nicolas Steno

Question 13

He made significant contributions to the theory of Plate tectonics, adding a concept of hot spots.

Answer 13

John Tuzo Wilson

Question 14

A German geologist who set out an early theory about the stratification of the Earth’s crust and propounded a history of the Earth that came to be known as Neptunism.

Answer 14

Abraham Gottlob Werner

Question 15

He examined the origins for a crater in Arizona, now known as Meteor Crater but then referred to as Coon Butte. He believed that for an impact crater, the volume of the crater including the meteorite should be more than the ejected material on the rim if it was a meteorite then iron should create magnetic anomalies.

Answer 15

Grove Karl Gilbert

Question 16

One of the crew on board Apollo 17, became the first member of NASA’s first scientist-astronaut group to fly in space. As Apollo 17 was the last of the Apollo missions, he also became the twelfth and second-youngest person to set foot on the Moon and the second-to-last person to step off of the Moon.

Answer 16

Harrison Schmitt

Question 17

Discovered deuterium; showed how isotope ratios in rocks reveal past Earth climates; founded modern planetary science; his experiment demonstrated that electrically sparking simple gases produces amino acids – the building blocks of life.

Answer 17

Clarence Dutton