WJohn Polk Allen is a systems ecologist, engineer, metallurgist, adventurer, and writer. Allen is a proponent of the science of biospherics and a pioneer in sustainable co-evolutionary development. He is the founder of Synergia Ranch, and is best known as the inventor and director of research of Biosphere 2, the world's largest vivarium and research facility to study global ecology. Biosphere 2 set multiple records in closed ecological systems work, including degree of sealing tightness, 100% waste and water recycle, and duration of human residence within a closed system. He is also involved with forestry and reforestation in Puerto Rico where he owns a 1000 acre Mahogany tree farm at Patillas.
WMichael Aw is a Singaporean marine photographer and author based in Sydney, Australia.
WJames Michael Clash is an American participatory adventure journalist and author who has engaged in and written about various challenging exploits. He has written for Forbes, AskMen, Huffington Post, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Automobile. Clash has written three books: Forbes To The Limits, The Right Stuff: Interviews with Icons of the 1960s, and The Right Stuff: Interviews with Icons of the 1970s and 1980s. He is a fellow and former board member of The Explorers Club and is also ticket holder 610 on Virgin Galactic for a flight to space.
WBarry Clifford is an underwater archaeological explorer best known for discovering the remains of Samuel Bellamy's wrecked pirate ship Whydah [pronounced wih-duh], the only fully verified and authenticated pirate shipwreck of the Golden Age of Piracy ever discovered in the world – as such, artifacts from the wreck provide historians with unique insights into the material, political and social culture of early 18th-century piracy.
WBrian Edward Cox is an English physicist who serves as professor of particle physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. He is best known to the public as the presenter of science programmes, especially the Wonders of... series and for popular science books, such as Why Does E=mc²? and The Quantum Universe. He has been the author or co-author of over 950 scientific publications.
WMelville Porter Cummin, popularly known as Mel Cummin, was a magazine illustrator and a newspaper staff artist; a notable cartoonist in the early decades of American comic strips; and a Golden Age comic book artist and art director. He was active in the Society of Friends. Cummin was also a well-known naturalist and explorer.
WSteve Elkins is an American cinematographer and explorer.
WJulian Evans is a British adventurer and fund-raiser. Born in Leicestershire, and educated at Oakham School, he is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society, member of The Explorers Club and Alpine Club. Evans grew up in Lyddington, Rutland but now lives in Great Easton, Leicestershire.
WMark Evans is a British explorer, field guide, author, motivational speaker and wilderness advocate. He was awarded the MBE in 2011 for his work using outdoor journeys to connect cultures and promote intercultural dialogue between future leaders from the Arab and western world. He is currently General Manager of Outward Bound Oman. In January 2016 he completed a 49-day, 1300 km crossing of the largest sand desert on earth, on foot and by camel.
WPiara Singh Gill was an Indian nuclear physicist and a pioneer in cosmic ray nuclear physics. He was the first Director of Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) of India. He was research fellow of University of Chicago (1940). He was research Professorship fellow of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) (1947), Officer-on-Special Duty (OSD) with the Atomic Energy Commission in New Delhi. Professor and head of the Department of Physics at Aligarh University (1949), Director of Central Scientific Instruments Organization (CSIO) (1959) and Professor Emeritus at Punjab Agricultural University (1971).
WKenneth John Lacovara is an American paleontologist and geologist at Rowan University and fellow of the Explorers Club, known for the discovery of the titanosaurian dinosaur Dreadnoughtus and his involvement in the discovery and naming of the giant sauropod dinosaur Paralititan, as well as his work applying 3D printing technology to paleontology. Lacovara is the founder of the Edelman Fossil Park of Rowan University in Mantua Township, New Jersey and a TED speaker. He is author of the general-audience book, Why Dinosaurs Matter (2017), for which he received a Nautilus Book Award. Additionally, he serves as Paleontology Fellow of the Academy of Natural Sciences. He is a recipient of the Explorers Club Medal, the highest honor bestoyed by The Explorers Club.
WJason Lewis is an English award-winning author, explorer and sustainability campaigner credited with being the first person to circumnavigate the globe by human power. He is also the first person to cross North America on inline skates (1996), and the first to cross the Pacific Ocean by pedal power (2000). Together with Stevie Smith, Lewis completed the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean from mainland Europe to North America by human power (1995).
WLouis-Philippe Loncke, is a Belgian explorer, adventurer and motivational speaker. In 2008, he achieved the world first crossing on foot of the length of the Simpson desert, which was a North to South traverse passing through its geographical center. In 2018, he traversed Tasmania during the austral winter without resupplies and was nicknamed the Mad Belgian by Australians
WDan Mazur is a climber, trekker and expedition leader who has ascended nine of the world's highest summits, including Mount Everest and K2. In addition he is known for several high altitude mountain rescues: the 1991 rescue of Roman Giutashvili from Mount Everest, the rescue of Gary Ball from K2 in 1992, the rescue in 2006 of Australian climber Lincoln Hall from Mount Everest, and the rescue of British mountaineer Rick Allen from Broad Peak. In 2018, Daniel Mazur was awarded the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal "for remarkable service in the conservation of culture and nature in mountainous regions."
WMark Timothy O'Shea is an English herpetologist, photographer, author, lecturer, and television personality. He is known internationally as the presenter of the Animal Planet/Discovery Channel series O'Shea's Big Adventure.
WIrene Carswell Peden is an American engineer who has contributed much to the field of electrical engineering. She is known for being the first American woman scientist to live and work in the interior of the Antarctic, where she developed new methods to analyze the deep glacial ice by studying the effect it has on radio waves.
WJames Alan Polster was an American novelist, movie producer, screenwriter, explorer, and journalist.
WEric David Rasmussen is an American physician specializing in methods for global disaster response and their intersection with modern medical ethics. He was selected as the founding CEO of the TED Prize awarded to Larry Brilliant of Google.org in 2006 and in 2013 became the CEO of Infinitum Humanitarian Systems, a Seattle-based international consulting firm specializing in the humanitarian sciences.
WWilliam Francis Readdy is a former Associate Administrator of the Office of Space Flight, at NASA Headquarters.
WJackie Ronne was an American explorer of Antarctica and the first woman in the world to be a working member of an Antarctic expedition (1947–48). She is also the namesake of the Ronne Ice Shelf.
WFaanya Lydia (Arch) Rose is a British-American business woman, conservationist, philanthropist, and explorer. She was the first woman and the first British citizen elected president of The Explorers Club.
WCarl Safina is an ecologist and author of books and other writings about the human relationship with the natural world. His books include "Becoming Wild; How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace;" Beyond Words; What Animals Think and Feel; Song for the Blue Ocean; Eye of the Albatross; The View From Lazy Point; A Natural Year in an Unnatural World, and others. He is the founding president of the Safina Center, and is inaugural holder of the Carl Safina Endowed Chair for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University. Safina hosted the PBS series Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina.
WNeville Shulman is a British mountaineer, explorer, author, and Ridley Scott's personal consultant and adviser. He has been closely involved with Ridley Scott throughout his film career and involved with all his films, including Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, Gladiator, Robin Hood, Prometheus, and The Counselor.
WCharles William Steele, Jr., known as “Bill Steele,” is a cave explorer. He is a speleologist who has led and participated in expeditions to many of the longest and deepest caves in the USA, Mexico, and China. He has explored more than 2,500 caves across North America and Asia and has written two books chronicling his expeditions: "Yochib: The River Cave", and "Huautla: Thirty Years in One of the World's Deepest Caves.” TV shows such as National Geographic Explorer, NOVA and How’d They Do That? have aired programs on his expeditions.
WBrandon Wilson is known as an author of non-fiction travel narratives and explorer.