Most Famous American Explorers

United States has produced 280 notable explorers throughout history, led by Thomas Edison. Rankings are drawn from a cross-verified academic dataset of 152,953 people.

Top Ranked

  1. Thomas Edison — American Inventor (1847–1931) , ranked #118
  2. Steve Wozniak — American Inventor (Born 1950) , ranked #2563
  3. Robert Peary — American Explorer (1856–1920) , ranked #3591
  4. Vannevar Bush — American Engineer (1890–1974) , ranked #4235
  5. Robert Fulton — American Engineer (1765–1815) , ranked #4298
  6. Daniel Boone — American Explorer (1734–1820) , ranked #4445
  7. Calamity Jane — American Explorer (1852–1903) , ranked #5962
  8. George Westinghouse — American Engineer (1846–1914) , ranked #6815
  9. Chris McCandless — American Explorer (1968–1992) , ranked #7759
  10. William Clark — American Explorer (1770–1838) , ranked #8197
  11. Lee de Forest — American Inventor (1873–1961) , ranked #8815
  12. Eli Whitney — American Inventor (1765–1825) , ranked #9913
  13. Robert Noyce — American Inventor (1927–1990) , ranked #11038
  14. Hiram Maxim — American Inventor (1840–1916) , ranked #12025
  15. Sacagawea — American Explorer (1780–1812) , ranked #12579
  16. Frederick Cook — American Explorer (1865–1940) , ranked #12814
  17. Marc Andreessen — American Inventor (Born 1971) , ranked #14364
  18. Kit Carson — American Explorer (1809–1868) , ranked #14505
  19. Isaac Singer — American Inventor (1811–1875) , ranked #15595
  20. Sequoyah — American Inventor (1770–1843) , ranked #15763