Multimedia Collection
Earth Explorer: Geophysicist Marcia McNutt
(Discovering Women series)
VHS
60 minutes
Q130 .D51 1995 tape 3
Geophysicist Marcia McNutt sees science as a giant jigsaw puzzle:"When the pieces fit together, it's so much fun!" The "pieces" that she's working on now include a study of a critical juncture beneath Lake Mead, Nevada, where the earth's geological plates are pulling away from each other. Our continent in literally "falling apart before our very eyes," says McNutt, and someday North America may split into two separate continents. The profile follows McNutt as she studies these hidden forces, and it travels with her to Tahiti where she and her colleagues examine xenoliths, rock fragments thrown up from the earth's mysterious interior. The program also shows the human face of a life in science. McNutt is a single parent, widowed five years ago when her husband suddenly died, leaving her with three young daughters. Her life involves a constant balancing of research and teaching at MIT, where she's a tenured professor in the Earth Sciences Department, with children's piano lessons and birthday parties.
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