Liza Frost
Earth Science Current events
October 9, 2012
The
Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory was established in 1949 originally called the
Lamont Geological Observatory it was built on the estate of Thomas W. and
Florence Haskell Corliss Lamont, which the land was donated to the Columbia University
for that purpose. The Observatory’s founder was Maurice Ewing, a
seismologist who studied the solid part of the earth, particularly places that
used sound waves to image rock beneath the ocean floor. He was
also the first to collect samples of the core from the bottom of the ocean. In
1969, the Observatory was renamed Lamont–Doherty because of a major gift from
the Henry Doherty Charitable Foundation and in 1993, it was renamed the
Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory because of its expertise in the earth
sciences. Today, it is a major research component of the Earth Institute at
Columbia
A
part of the observatory research and address environmental
issues facing the planet, with focus on advancing scientific research to
support sustainable
development. This research will further the worlds
understanding and awareness of sustainable development and will therefore
affect many lives of future generations to come. As being a high school student
I cannot fully understand the significance of this research but, thinking about
solutions to world poverty is an interest of mine and after seeing the
observatory which is only open about once a year I have a new appreciation for
the work that is being done and thought of everyday.
Observatory
scientists are very important to society as they provide a rational basis for
the difficult choices facing our generation in the planet’s wellbeing.
Although
the lab has had many accomplishments the most major were they created the first
definitive evidence to support the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift. They
first explained the role of large-scale ocean circulation systems in abrupt climate
change.
They also provided the first evidence that the Earth's inner core is
spinning faster than the rest of the planet. They were also the first to study
create a global topographic map of the
oceans.
After
observing most of the booths that the exhibit had to offer my favorite was the reaction between the soda and mint mentos. First they were placed
inside the bottle which caused gas to rush out then when it was poked with a
pin, it resulted in a volcanic eruption, although this is a classic experiment
done by many people even students, seeing it there on a larger scale and
explained more in depth was a more hands on way to learn about volcanic
eruptions by using common every day ingredients.
After
visiting the Observatory I feel that I have a better understanding and larger
appreciation for the earth and its wonders, and I would like to go back again
to visit and pay more attention to detail.
Liza! I think you did a great job with your current events report, and I really enjoyed reading it. I also really liked how you chose a topic that was so involved with what we are learning, because I think it gives us a better understanding on your topic. Not having known that Columbia was doing such extensive research, it was nice to discover that someone so close was getting so in touch with the rest of the Earth. In your report, you did a great job with clearly putting your information, which made it very easy to understand. I thought that by using evidence from the lab, everything you said made that much more sense. The only thing I would say that you could improve on was your paragraph structure - other than that, I thought this was a great report. GOOD JOB!
ReplyDeleteLiza, I really enjoyed reading about the The Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory. I thought this was very well written. It was concise and very informative. Before reading, I knew very little about the Observatory. I learned about the founder, Maurice Ewing, and the reasons for building the Observatory. I was impressed by how important this Observatory is in terms of our knowledge of science, I didn't know that the things found there will affect the future of science. The only thing that could be improved is the organization of the article. That said, I thought it was very well done.
ReplyDeleteLiza!! I really enjoyed reading your report on your visit to the Lamont - Doherty Earth Observatory! It sounds like quite the interesting place. It seems as though you learned a lot from your visit to the observatory. Your review was very informational and presented what the observatory was all about it a very short and sweet essay. Having never been to the observatory I really don't know much about it. But after reading your review I have learned a lot. I also liked how you gave some history about the museum and its creation at the beginning of your review. The third thing I enjoyed about your review was the analysis of your favorite booth at the observatory. I understand that there were a lot of things going on and it was really cool that you got to go and see each one going on. The soda and mentos experiment was one of my favorites and one that I have done in the past. But I liked how you explained that it was done on a much bigger scale and in more detail. One thing that I learned from reading your review was that the observatory was the first to create the first definitive evidence to support the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift. This is a heavily debated topic in the scientific world, and its cool to know that it originated from this lab. Another thing that I found interesting was that the lab was the first to provide the first evidence that the Earth's inner core is spinning faster than the rest of the planet. I never knew that the inner core of the Earth was even spinning at a different speed that the actual Earth, and again it is cool to know that scientists are studying something that is actually quite interesting. One thing that I think you could improve on is organization of the article like Michelle said and also provide a little more detail on the different booths you saw at the observatory. GREAT JOB!!! :)
ReplyDeleteVery successful in addressing the history of the observatory in addition to the research and expos that are conducted there. Information was all presented clearly and gives the reader a good idea of what to expect if ever visiting in the near future. I thought the lab presentations you described sounded interesting and something that would be fun to go see for myself. I'm interested to know how they presented their knowledge that the Earth's core moves faster than the rest of the Earth, as well as what it was that lead scientists to believe that. But thanks for sharing that information. I think you could've looked over your report once or twice more, seeing as there are a few run on sentences, but other than that fantastic job.
ReplyDeleteVery successful in addressing the history of the observatory in addition to the research and expos that are conducted there. Information was all presented clearly and gives the reader a good idea of what to expect if ever visiting in the near future. I thought the lab presentations you described sounded interesting and something that would be fun to go see for myself. I'm interested to know how they presented their knowledge that the Earth's core moves faster than the rest of the Earth, as well as what it was that lead scientists to believe that. But thanks for sharing that information. I think you could've looked over your report once or twice more, seeing as there are a few run on sentences, but other than that fantastic job.
ReplyDeleteI read Liza’s blog post about her visit to the Lamont-Doherty research center and earth observatory. Overall, she did a very good job with her review and made me wish that I had gone to see the center! One thing Liza did particularly well was informing her readers about not just the center itself, but its background, as well. For example, she said that the land on which the Lamont-Doherty Observatory is located was once the estate of Thomas W. and Florence Haskall Corliss Lamont before being donated to Columbia University. Then, Liza went on to state the main objectives of the observatory as a whole, one of which being to research and address the environmental issues facing the planet today. Lastly, I really liked that Liza stated her own connection with her visit and why it was meaningful to her. Specifically, she wrote that she was interested in world poverty, which she learned about in her visit because it focused in part on sustainable development.
ReplyDeleteUpon reading Liza’s report, I have learned a lot about the observatory itself in addition to the strides being taken by mankind to research different aspects of our lives. In particular, I learned that the lab at Lamont-Doherty created the first definitive evidence to support the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift. In addition, researchers at Lamont-Doherty also provided the first evidence that the Earth’s inner core is spinning faster than the rest of the planet. This is especially interesting to me, since we have studied and are currently looking at different layers in the Earth.
Liza’s report consisted of a lot of good, interesting information. I think she did a good job in picking topics for each of her paragraphs. However, she had a lot of run-on sentences that were sometimes difficult to understand. Regardless, she did a great job!!