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

October 04, 2011

The World in Time:

World Enough, and Time

Lewis Lapham speaks with Elizabeth Abbott, author of Mistresses: A History of the Other Woman More

Bas relief, World War II Memorial, Library of Congress

October 27, 2017

The World in Time:

Victor Davis Hanson

Lewis H. Lapham talks with Victor Davis Hanson, author of The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won. More

June 24, 2022

The World in Time:

Olivier Zunz

Lewis H. Lapham speaks with the author of The Man Who Understood Democracy: The Life of Alexis de Tocqueville. More

December 03, 2021

The World in Time:

Geoffrey Wheatcroft

Lewis H. Lapham speaks with the author of Churchill’s Shadow: The Life and Afterlife of Winston Churchill. More

August 11, 2011

The World in Time:

Vicars of Christ

Lewis Lapham talks with historian John Julius Norwich about one of the most successful institutions the world has ever known. More

December 22, 2021

The World in Time:

David Wengrow

Lewis H. Lapham speaks with the coauthor of The Dawn of Everything. More