Marie Tharp was a marine scientist in a man’s world. Robert Smalls was a skilled sailor, but held as a slave. Both are now being honored by the U.S. Navy.

Tharp co-published the first world map of the ocean floors and helped prove the theory of continental drift.

Fifth graders commemorate pioneering mapmaker Marie Tharp using comics, pictures, and poems.

In this episode of Pod of the Planet, we celebrate the life of Marie Tharp and the inspiration she has been and continues to be to many scientists today.

Maybe you already know that she created some of the first maps of the ocean floor and helped discover plate tectonics. Here are some lesser-known facts about this history-making cartographer.

On the 100th anniversary of her birth, her grit and brilliance are as legendary as her work.

The pioneering mapmaker explains how she and colleagues discovered underwater mountain ranges 40,000 miles long, and helped to prove that the continents move.

July 30 marks 100 years since the birth of Marie Tharp, a pioneering geologist who created some of the first maps of the ocean floor. We’re celebrating her achievements and legacy with blog posts, giveaways, and more.

“We had this magic key, this magic magnetic profile,” Pitman said. “We were able to date it and eventually use it not only as a tool that proved continental drift but a tool by which we could actually reconstruct the pattern of drift, that is the relative position of the continents, and the actual timing of the separation of the continents.”

The bottom of the ocean just keeps getting better. Or at least more interesting to look at.