Marie Tharp Archives - State of the Planet

Cutting Confederate Ties, the U.S. Navy Names Ships for a Pioneering Female Oceanographer and a Daring Enslaved Pilot

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.

by |March 16, 2023
drawing of marie tharp with topography profile

Google Doodle Celebrates Marie Tharp, Who Mapped the Ocean Floor

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

by |November 28, 2022
drawing of camera and sea floor

No Longer Just ‘Girl Talk’

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

by |March 8, 2021

Pod of the Planet Ep. 8: Marie Tharp’s Girl Talk

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.

by |July 30, 2020
marie tharp sits in front of a globe and map

8 Surprising Facts About Marie Tharp, Mapmaker Extraordinaire

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.

by |July 29, 2020

Lamont’s Marie Tharp: She Drew the Maps That Shook the World

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

by |July 27, 2020
Marie Tharp

Marie Tharp’s Adventures in Mapping the Seafloor, In Her Own Words

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

by |July 24, 2020
Marie Tharp with one of her maps

Join Us in Celebrating #MarieTharp100

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.

by |July 23, 2020

Walter Pitman and the Smoking Gun of Plate Tectonics

“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.”

by |April 20, 2016

The Floor of the Ocean Comes into Better Focus

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

by |January 7, 2016