How One Brilliant Woman Mapped the Secrets of the Ocean Floor | Short Film Showcase

Oceanic cartographer Marie Tharp helped prove the theory of continental drift with her detailed maps of the ocean floor. This animation by Rosanna Wan for the Royal Institution tells the fascinating story of Tharp’s groundbreaking work.

About Short Film Showcase:
The Short Film Showcase spotlights exceptional short videos created by filmmakers from around the web and selected by National Geographic editors. We look for work that affirms National Geographic's belief in the power of science, exploration, and storytelling to change the world. The filmmakers created the content presented, and the opinions expressed are their own, not those of National Geographic Partners.

Get More National Geographic:

About National Geographic:
National Geographic is the world's premium destination for science, exploration, and adventure. Through their world-class scientists, photographers, journalists, and filmmakers, Nat Geo gets you closer to the stories that matter and past the edge of what's possible.

In the early part of the 20th century, German geophysicist Alfred Wegener proposed a revolutionary idea that made him the laughingstock of his peers. His “continental displacement” theory suggested that the earth’s continents once formed a single land mass that had gradually drifted apart over time. Wegener was largely disregarded by the geoscientific community until 1953, when a young cartographer named Marie Tharp began charting ocean floor depth measurements. In partnership with geologist Bruce Heezen, Tharp’s detailed maps of the ocean floor revealed rifts and valleys that supported Wegener’s controversial theory. Initially dismissed as “girl talk,” Tharp and Heezen finally brought the concept of plate tectonics to the mainstream in 1968 when they published their ocean floor map in National Geographic Magazine. Cementing her place in history, Tharp was awarded the National Geographic Society’s Hubbard Medal in 1978 for her pioneering research.

This animation by Rosanna Wan for the Royal Institution tells the fascinating story of Marie Tharp’s groundbreaking work to help prove Wegener’s theory.

How One Brilliant Woman Mapped the Secrets of the Ocean Floor | Short Film Showcase

National Geographic

[naskray]

It is brilliant!!!! Marie Tharp is my hero! She changed geology forever! Thank you so much for this cartoon👍🏻

[-r-]

This art style...so messy...yet so clean. I love it.

[karenmartinez]

Imagine what the scientific community would have achieved if women had been immersed completely in expeditions such as this from the beginning.

[cspogi]

this is so cool yet so heartbreaking. most people were not believing her, just because she was a girl. imagine if people didn't care about gender, she could've got the justice she deserved. definitely an underrated scientist which needs more appreciation.

[Lines]

Amazing how many groundbreakers are either shouted down initially or spend their lives defending patents. The main reason the original Wright Flyer survived is because the Wright Brothers spent their life defending their patents.

[DockLightProductions]

Brilliantly made. What a wonderful story. Bravo.

[a_joeleisenberg]

Fascinating presentation. I was a student assistant d;uring the International Geophysical year about 1957 or 58 when Buce Hezen was chief scienstist aboard the M/V Theta when the Theta and the R/V Vema were doing this maping of the middatlantic trench as it was already named at that time. Any questions I was there at Lamont Observitory doing the grunt work on this project

[kalokafka]

This was very interesting.. more videos like this please :)

[leelmao]

Amazing Video, showed it to the rest of my class and they loved it!

[WaspandUnicorn]

I was just telling someone about her!!! She's one of my favorite women scientists!

[Goldd]

my eyes are hurting this art style is so wierd but cool at the same time lol

[blacknovember]

Maybe it's unrelated but to make 2d animations like this do people mostly use adobe flash or other programs? and do you think the jitter effect is made with adobe after effects or from the flash?

beginner here ^^ sorry

[bigJovialJon]

She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.

[janhorak]

Its not entirley correct. Tharp and Heezen didnt really adopted the contiental rift theory. Their maps were influenced by the theory but they also argued against it.

[b.hagedash]

This is so true, I'm a male involved in scientific research and often when I publish and ask if they'd like to see the proof I'm told that no, you're a male and your word is good enough for us.

[maxasaurus]

Just makes you wonder how much better our technology would be if for example research papers had androgynous claimants. 🧐

[VardenMusic]

great story and video but it made me dizzy by looking at it... lol

[dzxk]

It wasn't just one women, the date was created and collected by many

[spacepopeXIV]

Holy shit! I thought this was a TedEd video, boy how wrong I was, I just clicked it cause I learned about her by watching Cosmos.

[thanhninh]

Yeah! You can do whatever woman 😉😘 as long as you want it.