2008 Joint Annual Meeting (5-9 Oct. 2008): The Ties That Bind: A Glimpse at the Life and Career of William Edgar Tharp.

On August 23, 2006, Marie Tharp died at age 86. Together with Bruce Heezen at Columbia University, she had created the map of the ocean floor that is one of the most widely recognized images in modern Earth science. But the world of mapping of geological features and landscapes was by no means foreign to Marie. She had an early role model in her father, soil surveyor William Edgar Tharp (1870-1959). The presentation will explore the life and career of W.E. Tharp, including his soil survey experience in the era of Curtis Marbut and Hugh Hammond Bennett, and his role in the formation of the Soil Science Society of America. A recently uncovered, rich archive of material on his later life will be introduced.