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	==Continental drift==		==Continental drift==
			YOU SUCK
	Browsing the library at the ], Wegener happened to pick up an incredibly obscure paper in the GSA (Geological Society of America) (v. 21, p. 179–226) by an amateur American author named ]. This was seemingly the first published reference to the theory of continental drift (although Bursley had actually publicly unveiled his theory at the GSA Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, on ], ]). In Wegener's previous research he been struck by the occurrence of identical ] in geological strata that are now separated by ]s. The accepted explanations or theories at the time posited ]s to explain away these anomalies. Reading Taylor's paper crystallised these thoughts into the theory that the continents themselves had shifted away from a primal single massive ], which drifted apart about 200 million ]s ago, to judge from the fossil evidence.

	From ] he publicly advocated the theory of "]", arguing that the ]s on both sides of the ] were drifting apart.

	In ], in ''The Origin of Continents and Oceans'' (''Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane''), Wegener published the theory that there had once been a giant supercontinent, which, in later editions,<!-- according to the OED, 2d edition (1989), the word is not found in the 1915 edition of Wegener's text; it appears in the 1920 edition but with no indication that Wegener is coining it --> he named "]" (meaning "All-Lands") and drew together evidence from various fields. Expanded editions during the ] presented the accumulating evidence. The last edition, just before his untimely death, revealed the significant observation that shallower oceans were geologically younger.

	===Theory of centrifugal force===

	Alfred Wegener also came up with a theory to explain continental drift, although it was in error. His ] theory of continental drift proposed that centrifugal force moved the heavy ] toward the ] as the Earth spun. He thought that ], from centrifugal movement combined with tidal drag on the continents (caused by the gravitation of the sun and moon) would account for continental drift.

	===Reaction===
	The one American edition, published in ], provoked such hostility that it was not revised. Many ]s focused on a lack of a demonstrable mechanism and rejected and ridiculed Wegener for his ideas, noting that he could not explain how continents were able to move. The theory received support through the controversial years from ]n geologist ] as well as from ]. Only after the mid-] discovery of ] did Wegener receive credit, as an early developer of the ] of ]. It took more than 50 years before adequate evidence was acquired and presented to convince mainstream geologists to acknowledge that the continents were actually in motion; and the fit between the coasts of ] and ] was more than just illusionary. Nevertheless, Wegener's assumed drift rate was ten to a hundred times faster than we now know to be true, and this unreasonable estimate must have contributed to the resistance to his ideas. To quote course materials from Prof. Michael Jordan of ], , " Also, our measurements show the rates of plate movements (about as fast as one's fingernails grow) to be at most about 1/10 to 1/100 of what Wegener had proposed."


	== Awards and honors ==		== Awards and honors ==

Revision as of 21:29, 4 December 2006

File:Alfred Wegener.JPG

Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift was widely ridiculed in his day

Alfred Lothar Wegener (Berlin, November 1, 1880 – Greenland, November 2 or 3, 1930) was a German interdisciplinary scientist and meteorologist, who became famous for his theory of continental drift.

Career

Wegener had early training in astronomy (Ph.D., University of Berlin, 1904). He became interested in the new discipline of meteorology (he married the daughter of famous meteorologist and climatologist Wladimir Köppen) and as a record-holding balloonist himself, pioneered the use of weather balloons to track air masses. His lectures became a standard textbook in meteorology, The Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere. Wegener was part of several expeditions to Greenland to study polar air circulation, when the existence of a jet stream itself was highly controversial. He died there of hypothermia.

"Science is a social process. It happens on a time scale longer than a human life. If I die, someone takes my place. You die; someone takes your place. What's important is to get it done." -- Alfred Lothar Wegener, shortly before his death at age 50.

Continental drift

YOU SUCK

Awards and honors

The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, established in 1980, honours his name. The Wegener impact craters on both Mars and the Moon, as well as the asteroid 29227 Wegener , are named after him.

External links

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