Alfred Wegener was born in Berlin on 1 November 1880 as the youngest of five children in a clergyman's family. Alfred Wegener, in full Alfred Lothar Wegener, (born November 1, 1880, Berlin, Germany—died November 1930, Greenland), German meteorologist and geophysicist who formulated the first complete statement of the continental drift hypothesis. Alfred Wegener collected diverse pieces of evidence to support his theory, including geological “fit” and fossil evidence. Wegener and Koch were the first to winter on the inland ice in northeast Greenland. It awards the Wegener Medal in his name. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. In 1912, Alfred Wegener proposed a theory that the continents had once been joined, and over time had drifted apart. [citation needed]. Born on November 1, 1880, Alfred Lothar Wegener earned a Ph.D in astronomy from the University of Berlin in 1904. But Wegener only published his idea after reading a paper in 1911 which criticized the prevalent hypothesis, that a bridge of land once connected Europe and America, on the grounds that this contradicts isostasy. Wegener first presented his theory in lectures in 1912 and published it in full in 1915 in his most important work, Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane (The Origin of Continents and Oceans). [26] The opponents argued, as did the Leipziger geologist Franz Kossmat, that the oceanic crust was too firm for the continents to "simply plough through". 4. [18], In his work, Wegener presented a large amount of observational evidence in support of continental drift, but the mechanism remained a problem, partly because Wegener's estimate of the velocity of continental motion, 250 cm/year, was too high. Mary Horner Lyell. The Danish expedition leader, Johan Peter Koch, broke his leg when he fell into a glacier crevasse and spent months recovering in a sickbed. [9] Inside their hut they drilled to a depth of 25 m with an auger. Carried out experiments with kites and balloons, and was fascinated with the new science of weather. Alfred Wegener first thought of this idea by noticing that the different large landmasses of the Earth almost fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. 3. Alfred Lothar Wegener (/ˈveɪɡənər/;[1] German: [ˈʔalfʁeːt ˈveːɡənɐ];[2][3] 1 November 1880 – November 1930) was a German polar researcher, geophysicist and meteorologist. He had meanwhile become interested in paleoclimatology, and in 1906–08 he took part in an expedition to Greenland to study polar air circulation. Because he was not a geologist and his idea contradicted the current thinking among geologists, he was mocked and dismissed. He was cousin to film pioneer Paul Wegener. Perhaps Alfred Wegener's greatest contribution to the scientific world was his ability to weave seemingly dissimilar, unrelated facts into a theory, which was remarkably visionary for the time. Today there is an Alfred Wegener Memorial site and tourist information office in a nearby building that was once the local schoolhouse. The revolution in geology, initiated with Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift, has been the subject of many philosophical discussions aiming at resolving the problem of … Updates? He also pointed to closely related fossil organisms and similar rock strata that occurred on widely separated continents. Their third daughter Hanna Charlotte ("Lotte", 1920–1989) was born in Hamburg. In the early 1950s, the new science of paleomagnetism pioneered at the University of Cambridge by S. K. Runcorn and at Imperial College by P.M.S. [30], The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, was established in 1980 on Wegener's centenary. Alfred Wegener observed the apparent wandering of earth's magnetic pole. His father, Richard Wegener, was a theologian and teacher of classical languages at the Berlinisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster. Other scientists had proposed such a continent but had explained the separation of the modern world’s continents as having resulted from the subsidence, or sinking, of large portions of the supercontinent to form the Atlantic and Indian oceans. The story of the Continental Drift Theory and its contribution to scientific truth is a fascinating example of how the scientific process works and how scientific theory evolves. Wegener published his theory in full in 1915, but his contemporaries mostly found it implausible. Expedition participants made many meteorological observations and were the first to overwinter on the inland Greenland ice sheet and the first to bore ice cores on a moving Arctic glacier. In 1905 Wegener became an assistant at the Aeronautisches Observatorium Lindenberg near Beeskow. Alfred Wegener completed his PhD in 1905, age 24. Principles of Geology. He searched the scientific literature for geological and paleontological evidence that would buttress his theory, and he was able to point to many closely related fossil organisms and similar rock strata that occurred on widely separated continents, particularly those found in both the Americas and in Africa. Lotte would in 1938 marry the famous Austrian mountaineer and adventurer Heinrich Harrer, while in 1939, Käte married Siegfried Uiberreither, Austrian Nazi Gauleiter of Styria.[10]. He and other expedition members built a pyramid-shaped mausoleum in the ice and snow, and Alfred Wegener's body was laid to rest in it. His term for this movement was die Verschiebung der Kontinente (“continental displacement”), which gave rise to the term continental drift. Alfred Wegener, in full Alfred Lothar Wegener, (born November 1, 1880, Berlin, Germany—died November 1930, Greenland), German meteorologist and geophysicist who formulated the first complete statement of the continental drift hypothesis. After his return in 1908 and until World War I, Wegener was a lecturer in meteorology, applied astronomy and cosmic physics at the University of Marburg. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. For example, he proved it by saying the fossils on the continents of Africa and South America were the same age. During his lifetime he was primarily known for his achievements in meteorology and as a pioneer of polar research, but today he is most remembered as the originator of continental drift hypothesis by suggesting in 1912 that the continents are slowly drifting around the Earth (German: Kontinentalverschiebung). From 1919 to 1923 Wegener did pioneering work on reconstructing the climate of past eras (now known as "paleoclimatology"), closely in collaboration with Milutin Milanković,[11] publishing Die Klimate der geologischen Vorzeit (“The Climates of the Geological Past”) together with his father-in-law, Wladimir Köppen, in 1924. Alfred Wegener studied at the universities of Heidelberg and Innsbruck, and received his Doctorate in Astronomy in Berlin in 1905. As an infantry reserve officer Wegener was immediately called up when the First World War began in 1914. The 14 participants under his leadership were to establish three permanent stations from which the thickness of the Greenland ice sheet could be measured and year-round Arctic weather observations made. Despite this, the book is received as both influential and controversial even today, due to the opposition divided amongst geologists regarding his geographic theories. Alfred Wegener's Continental Drift Theory. It was, however, not translated into English until 1962. On 19 October the remaining three members of the expedition reached Eismitte. After burying Wegener, Villumsen had resumed his journey to West camp, but was never seen again. Email. Wegener obtained a position as a meteorologist at the German Naval Observatory (Deutsche Seewarte) and moved to Hamburg with his wife and their two daughters. In 1924 Wegener was appointed to a professorship in meteorology and geophysics in Graz, which finally provided him with a secure position for himself and his family. His brother Kurt remarked that Alfred Wegener's motivation was to “reestablish the connection between geophysics on the one hand and geography and geology on the other, which had become completely ruptured because of the specialized development of these branches of science.”. In 1915 he published ‘ The Origin of Continents and Oceans ’, which outlined his theory of Continental Drift. Meteorologist Alfred Wegener, fueled in part by observations of how South America and Africa had coastlines that looked like they went together … This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Wegener, Age of the Sage - Transmitting the Wisdoms of the Ages - Biography of Alfred Wegene, Strange Science - Biography of Alfred Wegener, University of California Museum of Paleontology - Biography of Alfred Wegener, Linda Hall Library - Biography of Alfred Wegener, Public Broadcasting Service - Biography of Alfred Wegener, Alfred Wegener - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). 10.1 Alfred Wegener — the Father of Plate Tectonics Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) (Figure 10.1) earned a PhD in astronomy at the University of Berlin in 1904, but he had always been interested in geophysics and meteorology and spent most of his academic career working in meteorology. While his ideas attracted a few early supporters such as Alexander Du Toit from South Africa, Arthur Holmes in England [23] and Milutin Milanković in Serbia, for whom continental drift theory was the premise for investigating polar wandering,[24][25] In 1929 Wegener embarked on his third trip to Greenland, which laid the groundwork for a later main expedition and included a test of an innovative, propeller-driven snowmobile. [21] (The currently accepted rate for the separation of the Americas from Europe and Africa is about 2.5 cm/year.)[22]. This was the Continental Drift Theory. From at least 1910, Wegener imagined the continents once fitting together not at the current shore line, but 200 m below this, at the level of the continental shelves, where they match well. In 1912 he advanced the theory of continental drift, which, again, was met with derision (as Georges Lemaitre’s “Big Bang”), and was not accepted until 1950’s. [23] Part of the reason Wegener's ideas were not initially accepted was the misapprehension that he was suggesting the continents had fit along the current coastline. Wegener's main interest was meteorology, and he wanted to join the Denmark-Greenland expedition sch… Other interesting scientific contributions 1.) Arthur died at 20 St John's Avenue in Putney, London, on 20 September 1965, at the age of 75. Wegener was one of the first to realize that an understanding of how the Earth works required input and knowledge from all the earth sciences. This expedition inspired the Greenland expedition episode of Adam Melfort in John Buchan's 1933 novel A Prince of the Captivity. He supposed that the mechanisms causing the drift might be the centrifugal force of the Earth's rotation ("Polflucht") or the astronomical precession. Wegener was then recognized as the founding father of one of the major scientific revolutions of the 20th century. Alfred Wegener in Greenland in the winter of 1912-1913. Alfred Wegener: Science, Exploration and the Theory of Continental Drift by Mott T Greene is published by Johns Hopkins University Press on 29 October Topics Geology He taught meteorology at Marburg and Hamburg and was a professor of meteorology and geophysics at the University of Graz from 1924 to 1930. His theory on Continental Drift stirred a revolution among the scientific community as it … "[17] However, he did not pursue these ideas in his later works. [14] He supplied the camp successfully, but there was not enough food at the camp for him to stay there. [4][5] Wegener was involved in several expeditions to Greenland to study polar air circulation before the existence of the jet stream was accepted. Wegener's last Greenland expedition was in 1930. Wegener attended school at the Köllnisches Gymnasium on Wallstrasse in Berlin (a fact which is memorialized on a plaque on this protected building, now a school of music), graduating as the best in his class. In 1917 he undertook a scientific investigation of the Treysa meteorite. [23] Charles Schuchert commented: During this vast time [of the split of Pangea] the sea waves have been continuously pounding against Africa and Brazil and in many places rivers have been bringing into the ocean great amounts of eroded material, yet everywhere the geographic shore lines are said to have remained practically unchanged! Blackettwas soon producing data in favour of Wegener's theory. By early 1953 samples taken from India showed that the country had previously been in the Southern hemisphere as predicted by Wegener. Wegener felt personally responsible for the expedition's success, as the German government had contributed $120,000 ($1.5 million in 2007 dollars). (German for "primal continent", analogous to the Greek "Pangaea",[20] Wegener also speculated about sea-floor spreading and the role of the mid-ocean ridges, stating that "the Mid-Atlantic Ridge ... zone in which the floor of the Atlantic, as it keeps spreading, is continuously tearing open and making space for fresh, relatively fluid and hot sima [rising] from depth. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Nevertheless, he was able in 1915 to complete the first version of his major work, Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane (“The Origin of Continents and Oceans”). By 1930 it had been rejected by most geologists, and it sank into obscurity for the next few decades. In that same year 1906, Wegener participated in the first of his four Greenland expeditions, later regarding this experience as marking a decisive turning point in his life. He noticed that there was a significant similarity between matching sides of the continents, especially in fossil plants. Here Wegener also made his first acquaintance with death in a wilderness of ice when the expedition leader and two of his colleagues died on an exploratory trip undertaken with sled dogs. Maps of the geomorphology of the ocean floors created by Marie Tharp in cooperation with Bruce Heezen were an important contribution to the paradigm shift that was starting. In: Wiener Luftschiffer-Zeitung 5, Heft 8, 1906, S. 156–157. [15] Wegener had been 50 years of age and a heavy smoker, and it was believed that he had died of heart failure brought on by overexertion. He worked there with his brother Kurt, two years his senior, who was likewise a scientist with an interest in meteorology and polar research. The Denmark expedition was led by the Dane Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen and charged with studying the last unknown portion of the northeastern coast of Greenland. 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