George Perkins Merrill (May 31, 1854 – August 15, 1929) was an American geologist, notable as the head curator from 1917 to 1929 of the Department of Geology, United States National Museum (now the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution).

[2] He was educated at the University of Maine (B.S., 1879; Ph.D., 1889), took a post-graduate courses of study and was assistant in chemistry at Wesleyan University, Connecticut (1879–1880), and subsequently studied at Johns Hopkins (1886–1887).

In 1881 he became assistant curator at the National Museum, Washington, D.C.[3] He also served as professor of geology and mineralogy at the Corcoran Scientific School of Columbian University (now George Washington University) from 1893 to 1916, and was appointed head curator of the department of geology at the National Museum in 1897.

[6] In 1897 Merrill proposed the term regolith for the loose outer layer of Earth, the Moon, Mars, etc.

[2] He died from a heart attack in Auburn, Maine on August 15, 1929, and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery there.