Plate tectonics
In 1955, the Coast and Geodetic Survey ship [[USS Mobjack (AGP-7)|USC&amp;GS "Pioneer" (OSS 31)]] conducted a survey in the Pacific Ocean off the [[West Coast of the United States|United States West Coast]] towing a [[magnetometer]] invented by the [[Scripps Institution of Oceanography]]. The first such survey in history, it discovered [[Plate tectonics|magnetic striping]] on the seafloor, a key finding in the development of the theory of [[plate tectonics]].