Videos

Marie Tharp: Uncovering the Secrets of the Ocean Floor – with Helen Czerski



The Royal Institution

Continental drift is common knowledge now, but when the idea was first proposed it was revolutionary. Helen Czerski tells the story of how the maps of one of history’s finest cartographers shifted our view of the planet.
Subscribe for new science videos each week: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe

In the early 20th century, Alfred Wegener proposed a revolutionary idea: that the Earth’s continents were once joined together, and had gradually moved apart. The idea contradicted almost everything scientists thought at the time, and it took the detailed work of a brilliant cartographer to prove him right.

Conventional ideas held that the ocean floors were flat, featureless planes. As expeditions started to go around the world collecting ocean depth measurements, Marie Tharp – not allowed to join the expeditions herself – processed the data and began to craft detailed, revealing maps of the hidden ocean depths.

She discovered that the ocean floor was in fact a complex assortment of peaks and troughs. In particular, her profiles revealed stark rift valleys, which supported Wegener’s controversial ideas. Even then, it took a long time to convince the scientific community that her findings were correct. Eventually, however, she was proved right, and Marie Tharp took her rightful place as one of history’s finest cartographers.

Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe

The Ri is on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ri_science
and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution
and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.com/
Our editorial policy: http://www.rigb.org/home/editorial-policy
Subscribe for the latest science videos: http://bit.ly/RiNewsletter

Source

Similar Posts

24 thoughts on “Marie Tharp: Uncovering the Secrets of the Ocean Floor – with Helen Czerski
  1. ". . . A pattern of scars that spanned the Earth's oceans – permanent wounds torn into existence through the process of continental drift."
    That sounds so poetic and beautiful. However, we should also consider that the drift didn't CAUSE the "scars", perhaps the energy lines where the scars appear are DRIVING the continental drift.

  2. Um….I'd hate to break this to all the "smart" people out there, BUT….the continents are still connected. This is not "science", it's a religious belief. *

  3. great topic and narration, but the video had too much vibration in it. please don't do that ever again, it was distressing to the eye.

  4. Loved this! Marie Tharp appeared in the BBC Earth Story from the 80s (or was it 90s?) It is a fabulous series including the development of the theory (then) of continental drift. Narrated by biologist Aubrey Manning, rocks never sounded so interesting! Where David Attenborough's Life series told us about the evolution of life on earth, Earth Story provides the geological angle.

  5. Continental drift is false. The ocean map which this video (never showed!) debunks continental drift and Pangae! The real secret of the Ocean Floor Map is, it shows that all continents where connected as a smaller sphere! Look at the map!

Comments are closed.

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com