The Eureka Moment that Brought Plate Tectonics to Life by LDEO

Fifty years ago, a graduate student named Walter Pitman made a discovery that would change the way we see our planet. It was late at night, and Walter was reviewing charts of ship data that had just come off the computer at what was then Columbia University’s Lamont Geological Observatory. What Walter found in those lines was the smoking gun of plate tectonics. We talked with Walter, Bill Ryan and Lynn Sykes about the events and exciting surrounding that discovery.