A Bellefontaine native is getting worldwide attention this week.
The Monday, Nov. 21, Google Doodle celebrated the life of Marie Tharp, an American geologist and oceanographic cartographer who co-published the first world map of the ocean floors.
Tharp graduated from Bellefontaine High School in 1938. She passed away in 2006.
The interactive Doodle explores Tharp’s career and is narrated by Caitlyn Larsen, Rebecca Nesel, and Dr. Tiara Moore. These three women are living out Tharp’s legacy by making strides in the traditionally male-dominated ocean science and geology spaces.
The narration is available at https://www.google.com/.
Tharp was an only child born on July 30, 1920, in Ypsilanti, Mich. Her father, who worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, gave her an early introduction to mapmaking.
She attended the University of Michigan for her master’s degree in petroleum geology, which was particularly impressive given so few women worked in science during this period.
Tharp moved to New York City in 1948 and became the first woman to work at the Lamont Geological Observatory.
For more information on her ground-breaking career, visit https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-marie-tharp.