Alfred Wegener
Uploaded by hazelbazel on May 23, 2000
Alfred Wegener was an explorer and meteorologist, born in Berlin, who first came up with the "Continental Drift Theory" or the "Wegener Theory." This theory stated that all of the continents came from one super continent, also known as Pangea, which spread apart gradually moving into their current positions on Earth. The evidence for this theory includes fossils of the same type oceans apart, similarities between climatic patterns, similarities between coastlines, as well as similarities in rock types and age between two continents separated by ocean, and also, it seemed that the continents all fit together like a jig-saw puzzle, each piece fitting into the bigger picture.
Wegener wrote a book "The Origin of Continents and Oceans" explaining to the rest of Germany about his theory. Due to World War I, it was limited to only Germany’s publications. Even then, his ideas were not excepted by most, although there were few who did believe in his theory.
Wegener died at 50 on his fourth expedition to Greenland.