Synopsis of the 80th GSOC Annual Banquet with speaker Dr. Tanya Atwater, University of California Santa Barbara

/
Synopsis of the 80th GSOC Annual Banquet with speaker Dr. Tanya Atwater, University of California Santa Barbara

Shaping the Tectonic World View 

by Carol Hasenberg 

Outgoing GSOC President Sheila Alfsen introduced Dr. Tanya Atwater by discussing the origins of GSOC and its name “The Oregon Country”. The first decades of exploration and research into the geology of the Oregon Country answered the questions of What and Where, she said. It was clear that Oregon contained a strip of volcanism that was present all around the edges of the Pacific Ocean. The big question left to answer was the Why. And that is what the work of Dr. Atwater and many other scientists did over the last 50 years. Plate tectonics has been one of the greatest scientific discoveries of all times. 

Read More

When the Plate Tectonic Revolution Met Western North America: the Lure of Science and the Oddness of being Female

/
When the Plate Tectonic Revolution Met Western North America: the Lure of Science and the Oddness of being Female

I was in high school in 1957 when the Russians successfully launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik. It is hard to explain to younger generations just what a profound event that was. To us, it was totally astonishing: that we humble humans could put an object into outer space. Until then I had planned to be an artist, but I thought “Wow! If scientists can do that, they can solve anything (ghettos, hunger, strife, …)”. So began my checkered studies in science.

Read More