Endowment Support

“If I have seen further, it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.” –Sir Isaac Newton

The importance of endowment funding can be conveyed through the story of Marie Tharp, whose years of ingenuity
at Lamont-Doherty epitomize the character of this institution.

At the time of Marie’s arrival at Lamont, Maurice Ewing and Joe Worzel, among others, were hard at work recording thousands of sea-depth measurements aboard the Atlantis and, later, aboard the Vema. Marie, who had received a master’s in mathematics and had held a part-time drafting job, was hired to work with geologist Bruce Heezen to map
the data collected on these cruises. She dove into the project—with a globe of pure white plaster perched on her desk.

The globe’s blank quadrants fueled Marie’s determination. Marie’s training in mathematics and her intuitive grasp of Earth’s physical systems enabled her to discern patterns and correlations in the data she encountered and to assemble what she later referred to as a “fascinating jigsaw puzzle.” Slowly the ocean bottom assumed an identifiable structure
with seafloor ridges circumventing the globe.

Many who witnessed Marie with ruler and pen in hand took her for a master cartographer. But she was no mere
plotter of points. Marie’s brilliance revealed itself to the numerous scientists who relied on her acute understanding of
the seafloor’s valleys and rifts. “With just a little data, Marie used her tremendous mind to visualize the entire ocean.
Marie had the ability to make an observation and instinctively conceive of the mechanism at play,” explains marine geophysicist Robin Bell.

So many of the revelatory ideas generated here at Lamont-Doherty have their roots in Marie’s scientific contributions
and reflect her spirit of exploration. Here are a handful of our current researchers who continue in her footsteps:

•  Robin Bell, who served as a chief scientist on the recent International
   Polar Year Antarctic expedition to map the subglacial Gamburtsev
   Mountains, considers her own research an offshoot of what Tharp began.
   Bell, like Marie, integrates data to infer hidden landscapes, in this case
   employing sophisticated radar to survey the previously unmapped
   mountain range.

•  In awarding Maya Tolstoy their 2009 Women of Discovery prize, Wings
   WorldQuest presented Tolstoy with the very pin they had once given to
   Marie. They recognized Tolstoy for her research  on the mid-ocean ridges
   that demarcate divergent tectonic plates. She has demonstrated that
   tides can trigger earthquakes on the seafloor. While making this seminal
   discovery, Tolstoy participated in 27 scientific cruises, examining how
   earthquakes impact life at the oceans’ hydrothermal vents.

•  Named a distinguished lecturer by the National Science Foundation’s
   program on continental margins, Donna Shillington investigates the fringes
   of Marie’s ocean maps—the edges of continents. These regions record the
   manner in which oceans form (through a process of continental breakup), or
   contract, as one plate slides under another. Her research focuses on these
   processes in regions such as the Black Sea, and the Aleutian Islands.

•  Kim Kastens spent years studying the geological evolution of the
   Mediterranean basin’s active subduction zones. After witnessing many
   of her Columbia undergraduates struggle to visualize three-dimensional
   Earth processes, Kastens sought new ways to teach spatial concepts.
   The American Geophysical Union recently recognized Kastens with their
   Excellence in Geophysical Education award.

•  Suzanne Carbotte’s work to construct high-resolution, time-lapse images
   of the magma chambers beneath ridges at the East Pacific Rise resonates
   with Marie’s determination to resolve unknown Earth systems. Carbotte also
   collaborates with William Ryan on Virtual Ocean (www.virtualocean.org)
   —a digital mapping application that allows scientists from around the world
   to gain instant access to the seafloor’s deepest chasms.

Ryan, a Columbia graduate student as the plate-tectonic revolution unfolded at Lamont, envisages an entire lineage
that traces back to Marie. Citing how Bell, Tolstoy, Carbotte, Shillington and Kastens mentor some extraordinary
students of their own, Ryan believes that “Marie lives on, not as a memory but as a foundation for other researchers.”

As so many of us in the sciences acknowledge, an investment in one researcher supports an entire succession of scientists—each building upon the work of his or her mentor.

In her final years, Marie assumed the role of a visionary philanthropist, leaving a bequest to the Observatory to help support subsequent generations of scientists who, like her, will participate in the quest for new knowledge. She understood that endowed funding creates a steady stream of resources that is essential if Lamont-Doherty hopes to attract and retain the best research staff.

We encourage you to make a gift that builds the Observatory’s endowment and sustains Marie’s scientific legacy. In
so doing, you will ensure that the world-renowned scientists at Lamont-Doherty will continue to stand on the shoulders
of their scientific predecessors. The effects of your contribution will endure long after the term of the award.

If you would like to make a gift online, please click here or contact Barbara Charbonnet, Acting Director of Development at 845-365-8585.