Google is paying tribute to American geologist and oceanographic cartographer, Marie Tharp, who helped prove the theories of continental drift. She co-published the first world map of ocean floors. On November 21 in 1998, the Library of Congress named Ms. Tharp one of the greatest cartographers of the 20th century.
The Google Doodle for today features an interactive biography of Ms. Tharp. Three prominent women, Caitlyn Larsen, Rebecca Nesel, and Dr. Tiara Moore, who are actively carrying on Marie Tharp’s legacy by making advancements in the typically male-dominated fields of ocean science and geology provide narration for her story.
Today’s doodle features an interactive exploration of Ms. Tharp’s life.
Google is today celebrating the life of Marie Tharp, an American geologist and oceanographic cartographer, with a special and interactive doodle on its homepage. On this day in 1998, the Library of Congress named her one of the greatest cartographers of the 20th century, and Google is celebrating the feat with a doodle. Ms Tharp is also credited with creating the first scientific map of the Atlantic Ocean floor and proving the theories of continental drift.
The doodle is narrated by Caitlyn Larsen, Rebecca Nesel, and Dr Tiara Moore. Users just need to click on the interactive doodle, which takes them to several illustrations that chronicle Marie Tharp’s life and career.
Marie Tharp | Photo Credit: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the estate of Marie Tharp.
Marie Tharp was an only child born on July 30, 1920, in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ms. Tharp’s father, who worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, gave her an early introduction to mapmaking. She attended the University of Michigan for her master’s degree in petroleum geology. She moved to New York City in 1948 and became the first woman to work at the Lamont Geological Observatory where she met geologist Bruce Heezen.
In the Atlantic Ocean, Mr. Heezen collected data on ocean depths that Ms. Tharp utilised to produce maps of the mysterious ocean floor. She learned about the Mid-Atlantic Ridge owing to new knowledge from echo sounders, a type of sonar used to measure water depth. She informed Mr. Heezen of her results, but he dismissed them as it was coming from a woman.
Marie Tharp | Photo Credit: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the estate of Marie Tharp.
Mr. Heezen was unable to disregard the facts, though, when they compared these V-shaped rifts with earthquake epicentre maps. The seafloor was undeniably spreading, supporting the hypotheses of plate tectonics and continental drift. The first map of the ocean floor in the North Atlantic was co-published in 1957 by Ms. Tharp and Mr. Heezen. Twenty years later, National Geographic released “The World Ocean Floor,” the first map of the entire ocean floor that Ms. Tharp and Mr. Heezen had created.
In 1995, Ms. Tharp donated the Library of Congress the entirety of her collection of maps. She was recognised as one of the most significant cartographers of the 20th century by the Library of Congress during the 100th anniversary celebration of its Geography and Map Division. The observatory where she began her career gave her the first Lamont-Doherty Heritage Award in 2001.
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