Hannah Stewart Mr.

Mewborne AP Human Geography 5B 7 September 2013 Alfred Wegener Alfred Wegener was a scientist whose interests in different areas of science led him to create a theory that had a remarkable impact on what was thought of the continents. Though the general idea behind continental drift had been suggested before, Wegener was the first to put together the extensive evidence and make it into a formal theory. Wegener was born in 1880 and was interested in science early on in his life (Science Odyssey). He studied astronomy and meteorology, earning a Ph.d. in astronomy from the University of Berlin (Waggoner). Wegener took several expeditions to Greenland, studying the polar climate. In Greenland, he gained experience and esteem as a scientist and soon got a job at the University of Marburg, where he found a book about the similar fossils found in countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean (Hughes). The explanation at the time was that land bridges had once connected the continents, causing the same fossils to be found on both sides of the ocean. Wegener wasnt convinced, so he researched why these fossils could be found on different sides of an ocean. He researched more findings like this and saw that fossils weren't the only things different continents had in common. He found that the mountain ranges of the Eastern United States and Scotland were similar, and South Africa and Brazil had similar rock layers. Also, fossil evidence showed that ancient climates of different regions were drastically different from what they are today; tropical plant fossils had been found in the arctic. Scientists in the past had

wondered about the similar coastlines of South America and Africa, and Wegener hypothesized that the continents were once connected and had spread apart; that idea turned into the theory of continental drift. After fighting and being wounded in World War I, Wegener published his continental drift theory in The Origin of Continents and Oceans. Continental Drift received harsh criticism from top scientists at the time. Wegener had noticed the effects of Continental Drift, but he was unsure of the force behind the movements of continents. He thought that it was probably due to centrifugal force of the Earths movement or the gravitational pull of the Sun and the Moon, which, in addition to the radical nature of his theory, caused most scientists to dismiss his ideas as false. Continental Drift was a theory so before its time that it was ridiculed by the top scientists of the early 20th century. It was and still is an important advancement in science, but it was ridiculed because it was so different from the accepted ideas about the world at the time, and despite Wegener's evidence, he did not have a force behind the theory. Scientists also didn't believe Wegener because