J. Lamar Worzel was an American geophysicist known for his important contributions to underwater acoustics, underwater photography, and gravity measurements at sea.
Marie Tharp was an American geologist and oceanographic cartographer who, in partnership with Bruce Heezen, created the first scientific map of the Atlantic Ocean floor. Tharp's work revealed the detailed topography and multi-dimensional geographical landscape of the ocean bottom. Her work included a more precise cartographic representation of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and her discovery of the rift valley along its axis, causing a paradigm shift in earth science that led to acceptance of the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift.
The Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) is the scientific research center of the Columbia Climate School, and a unit of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. It focuses on climate and earth sciences and is located on a 189-acre campus in Palisades, New York, 18 miles (29 km) north of Manhattan on the Hudson River.
Paul E. Olsen is an American paleontologist and author and co-author of a large number of technical papers. Growing up as a teenager in Livingston, New Jersey, he was instrumental in Riker Hill Fossil Site being named a National Natural Landmark as a teenager by sending President Richard Nixon a dinosaur footprint cast from the site. He received a M. Phil. and a Ph.D. in Biology at Yale University in 1984. His thesis was on the Newark Supergroup.
RV Maurice Ewing was a research vessel operated by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. It was retired in 2005 and replaced by RV Marcus Langseth in 2008. Although a multipurpose vessel, Maurice Ewing's notable capability was to collect multichannel seismic data.
Walter Clarkson Pitman III was an American geophysicist and a professor emeritus at Columbia University. His measurements of magnetic anomalies on the ocean floor supported the Morley–Vine–Matthews hypothesis explaining seafloor spreading. With William Ryan, he developed the Black Sea deluge theory. Among his major awards are the Alexander Agassiz Medal and the Vetlesen Prize.
Dallas Abbott is a research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and is part of the Holocene Impact Working Group. The primary focus of her present research is on submarine impact craters and their contribution to climate change and megatsunamis. She also has presented research regarding a large impact crater in the Gulf of Maine.
Robert D. Conrad (T-AGOR-3) was a Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ship that operated from 1962 to 1989. The ship, while Navy owned, was operated as the R/V Robert D. Conrad by the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University from delivery to inactivation. The ship provided valuable ocean-bottom, particularly seismic profile, information and underwater test data to the U.S. Navy and other U.S. agencies.
The sailing vessel Mandalay is a three-masted schooner measuring 202 ft (62 m) at the waterline, with an almost indestructible Danish wrought iron hull. It was built as the private yacht Hussar (IV), and would later become the research vessel Vema, one of the world's most productive oceanographic research vessels. The ship currently sails as the cruising yacht Mandalay in the Caribbean.
The Vetlesen Prize is a prize in geology awarded jointly by Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation. The prize is generally regarded as the highest distinction in geologic studies, and the "Nobel Prize for geology".
Maureen E. "Mo" Raymo is an American paleoclimatologist and marine geologist. She is the Co-Founding Dean of the Columbia Climate School, Director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, the G. Unger Vetlesen Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, and Director of the Lamont-Doherty Core Repository at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. She is the first female climate scientist and first female scientist to head the institution.
The Gordon Nunataks are a group of nunataks on the south side of Mosby Glacier, near its head, in south-central Palmer Land, Antarctica. They were mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey from aerial photographs taken by the U.S. Navy, 1966–69. In association with the names of Antarctic oceanographers grouped in this area, they were named in 1977 by the UK Antarctic Place-names Committee after Arnold L. Gordon, an American oceanographer who is Professor of Geology at the Lamont–Doherty Geological Observatory, Columbia University, New York.
Heezen Glacier is a glacier flowing northeast from the eastern portion of the Wegener Range and entering Violante Inlet east of Mount Reynolds, on the Black Coast of Palmer Land, Antarctica. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from aerial photographs taken by the U.S. Navy, 1966–69. In association with the names of oceanographers grouped in this area, it was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1977 after Bruce C. Heezen, an American marine geologist and oceanographer who was Professor of Geology at Columbia University's Lamont–Doherty Geological Observatory, 1964–77.
The Heirtzler Fracture Zone is an undersea fracture zone located south of New Zealand near Antarctica.
Heirtzler Ice Piedmont is a relatively low, triangular-shaped, ice-covered area of about 7 nautical miles (13 km) extent, located at the west side of Violante Inlet and north of Maury Glacier, on the Black Coast of Palmer Land, Antarctica. The feature was first seen and photographed from the air by the United States Antarctic Service on December 30, 1940, and was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from U.S. Navy aerial photographs taken 1966–69. In association with the names of continental drift scientists grouped in this area, it was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after James R. Heirtzler, an American physicist. Heirtzler was a Research Scientist at Columbia University's Lamont–Doherty Geological Observatory, 1960–64, and Senior Research Scientist, 1964–67; he was Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, 1969–86; Geophysicist and Head of the Geophysics Branch at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from 1986.
The Hero Fracture Zone is an undersea fracture zone in the Antarctic. Its name was approved by the Advisory Committee on Undersea Features in June 1987.
Tharp Ice Rise is an ice rise, about 1.3 nautical miles (2.4 km) long, located at the ice front (1966) of Larsen Ice Shelf, 15 nautical miles (28 km) east of Cape Fanning, Merz Peninsula, Black Coast. The ice rise was mapped by United States Geological Survey (USGS) from U.S. Navy aerial photographs taken 1966–69. In association with the names of Antarctic oceanographers grouped in this area, named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in 1977 after Marie Tharp, American marine geologist and oceanographer of Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Columbia University, New York.
The Comer Range is an Antarctican mountain range, 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) long, running southwest to northeast and rising to 600 meters to the west of Harbour Glacier in Wiencke Island, Palmer Archipelago. From south to north the range includes Jabet Peak and Noble Peak. Named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names in 2007 after Gary Comer (1927-2006), an American philanthropist and founder of the Lands' End company whose association with polar research stems from his 2001 trip through the Northwest Passage in the vessel Turmoil. The ease of his passage in comparison to that of numerous experienced sailors previously convinced him that climate change was occurring. To research the issue Comer contacted distinguished scientists Wallace S. Broecker, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, and F. Sherwood Rowland, University of California, Irvine, and engaged their help in sponsoring a fellowship/mentorship program that he would fund. Comer's investments in climate and environmental change research in the Arctic, and in particular the polar science internship program that he developed and supported, represents a substantial contribution to the advancement of polar science. The new intellectual capital represented by the cadre of new scientists trained through his internship program has already made substantial contributions to knowledge of the Arctic and this in turn represents a significant contribution to improving the global glacial-geologic and glaciological context that is essential for understanding climate change work in the Antarctic.
Patience Anne Cowie was a Professor of Earth System Dynamics at the University of Bergen. Her research has considered fault propagation and rift basins. She was awarded the 2016 Geological Society of London Coke medal.
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document: "Pitman Fracture Zone".(content from the Geographic Names Information System ) 
