LQ Podcast

#40 Crack in World Found at Sea!

Thursday, June 27, 2013

So said the New York Times headline when geologist Marie Tharp discovered the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the gash in the earth that proved the theory of continental drift and helped establish the field of plate tectonics. Tharp made this discovery while producing the first comprehensive maps of the ocean floor. Author Hali Felt, who chronicled Tharp’s life in her book, Soundings, spoke to LQ about this remarkable and overlooked scientist. 

Discussed in this episode

More Podcasts

July 27, 2018

The World in Time:

Steven Ujifusa

Lewis H. Lapham talks with Steven Ujifusa, author of Barons of the Sea: And Their Race to Build the World’s Fastest Clipper Ship. More

The Country School, by Winslow Homer, 1871.

November 13, 2020

The World in Time:

Derek W. Black

Lewis H. Lapham speaks with the author of Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy. More

June 28, 2011

The World in Time:

Another House Divided

Lewis Lapham talks with historian Amanda Foreman about Britain’s role in the American Civil War. More

December 21, 2018

The World in Time:

Alan Rusbridger

Lewis H. Lapham talks with Alan Rusbridger, author of Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now. More

March 24, 2023

The World in Time:

Jared Yates Sexton

Lewis H. Lapham speaks with the author of The Midnight Kingdom: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis. More

June 09, 2017

The World in Time:

Ed Yong

Discovering communities of microbes that exist within us. More