Ray Abernathy

Off the Court

Ohio alumni, as Ray Abernathy tells it on the shows. Each story was checked against its source.

• Marie TharpMapped the Atlantic Ocean floor

  Marie Tharp changed her major every semester here and graduated in 1943. Then she helped draw the first scientific map of the Atlantic floor and found the rift valley in it. Her partner called it girl talk. Took her a year to convince him.

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• Venkatraman RamakrishnanNobel laureate in chemistry

  Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, a structural biologist and an Ohio University alum, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009. Folks around here don't brag much, but we'll make an exception for a Nobel.

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• Yvette McGee BrownFirst Black woman on Ohio's high court

  Yvette McGee Brown became the first African-American woman to sit as a justice on the Supreme Court of Ohio. That road to Columbus ran right through Athens.

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• Ramalinga RajuSatyam founder, convicted of fraud

  Ramalinga Raju earned his M B A here. He later confessed to a one and a half billion dollar accounting fraud at Satyam Computers, and in 2015 he was convicted and sentenced to seven years. We taught him business. Evidently not that kind.

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• Jerri NielsenAntarctic physician

  Jerri Nielsen was a physician in Antarctica. Antarctica. Next time you complain about an Athens winter, think about her commute.

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