About Marie Tharp - DRAFT TO HOLD
Marie Tharp was one of Lamont's most influential founding scientists. Working with data from researcher Bruce Heezen's trips on the ship Vema, which she was not allowed to board, Tharp began to map the ocean floor using a quill and ink on linen.
Although her findings were initially dismissed as "girl talk" by Heezen, her discovery of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge confirmed the theory of continental drift, now known as plate tectonics. In 1952, she began to notice a deep rift running between the ridges of the underwater mountain range she was working on. This rift was more continuous and pronounced than the mountains that accompanied it, and suggested to Tharp that the continents were pulling away from each other. Her colleagues dismissed the idea. Tharp wrote:
"Almost everyone in the United States thought continental drift was impossible. Bruce initially dismissed my interpretation of the profiles as 'girl talk.' But I thought the rift valley was real and kept looking for it in all the data I could get."
The team began to incorporate earthquake data into their readings and in 1953, they superimposed diagrams of oceanic earthquake locations over Marie's map. A continuous line of earthquake epicenters lined up perfectly with the rift, confirming the existence of the rift for the rest of the team.
Tharp's map, and her discovery of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge changed the course of geology and history. Of her work Tharp said:
"Scientists and the general public got their first relatively realistic image of a vast part of the planet that they could never see."
She was a pioneer in science at a time when women were not acknowledged for their contributions. In the 1990s Tharp was honored with awards from multiple institutions. She died in 2006 at the age of 86. July 30, 2020 marks Tharp's 100th birthday.
Learn more: Celebrating #MarieTharp100 | Marie Tharp’s Adventures in Mapping the Seafloor, In Her Own Words | Lamont’s Marie Tharp: She Drew the Maps That Shook the World | 5 Surprising Facts About Marie Tharp, Mapmaker Extraordinaire