B1,+Roycroft,+Claire,+Alfred+Wegener

Alfred Wegener (1880-1930)



Timeline
November 1, 1880- Alfred Wegener is Born

 1930- Alfred Wegener's death
** Early Life ** Alfred Lothar Wegener was born on November 1, 1880 in Berlin Germany. He attended Berlin University and received a PhD in Astronomy in 1904. However, he found that despite his original interest in astronomy, he developed interests in geophysics, meteorology, and climatology.

Employment

 * Wegener joined an expedition to Greenland in 1906, where he studied polar air circulation.
 * When he returned, he accepted a job offer at the University of Marburg, and returned to Greenland between 1912 and 1913, taking time off from his teaching job.
 * In 1914, Alfred Wegener was drafted into the German army for World War I, but was released from combat duty after he was injured.
 * He continued in the Army working for the weather forecasting service until the War was over.

Scientific Inspiration and Research
While browsing the university library at Marburg, Wegener discovered a paper listing fossils of identical species on separate continents on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. He began to look for an explanation, and found the (then) current theory. This proposed that there had been land bridges that are now sunken into the earth. Wegener thought that this idea was wrong because the ocean floor is made of different types of rock than the continents, and if the land bridge idea were correct, then this would not be true. In addition to the papers that Wegener found, many other ideas propelled him to make his new theory.
 * The continents when used like puzzle pieces fit together almost perfectly.
 * He noted that mountain ranges in Africa and South America fit together in an almost uninterrupted pattern
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">“It is just as if we were to refit the torn pieces of a newspaper by matching their edges and then check whether the lines of print ran smoothly across. If they do, there is nothing left but to conclude that the pieces were in fact joined in this way.”
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">The mountain ranges on several continents seemed to match with those across oceans.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px;">For example, the Appalachian Mountains and the Scottish Highlands have many similarities.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">The fossils found on many continents do not fit the climate of the current areas.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px;">For example, fossils of tropical plants have been found on Arctic islands.

<span style="color: #27a4dd; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">**Continental Drift**

 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; line-height: 24px;">The combined information that Wegener collected and the conclusions her made from it supported his theory of continental drift.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; line-height: 24px;">This theory states that the continents were a single mass called Pangaea, which is Greek for “all Earth”.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; line-height: 24px;">This super-continent split and its pieces have been moving away from each other for hundreds of millions of years.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;"> In 1915, Wegener published // The Origin of Continents and Oceans //, outlining his theory.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; line-height: 24px;">Additional editions with new ideas were published in 1920, 1922, and 1929. His theory of continental drift is still used today.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; line-height: 24px;">To see an animated representation of continental drift click here

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<span style="color: #27a4dd; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">**Reaction**
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">The general reaction to this theory was outrage and hostility toward Wegener. This is because the idea of land bridges was so widely accepted. Also, Wegener’s theory had flaws. He stated that the continents were moving through the earth’s crust, which was opposed by people stating that this would change the continents’ shapes beyond recognition.

<span style="color: #27a4dd; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">**Additional Discoveries**

 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; line-height: 24px;">Wegener offered a plausible explanation for mountains in replacement of the theory that they formed as the Earth cooled and contracted.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; line-height: 24px;">He said that as the edge of a continent hit another, it was folded and crumpled.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; line-height: 24px;">He took to heart the idea that sciences had to be combined in order to come to the truth.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">"Scientists still do not appear to understand sufficiently that all earth sciences must contribute evidence toward unveiling the state of our planet in earlier times, and that the truth of the matter can only be reached by combing all this evidence. ... It is only by combing the information furnished by all the earth sciences that we can hope to determine 'truth' here, that is to say, to find the picture that sets out all the known facts in the best arrangement and that therefore has the highest degree of probability. Further, we have to be prepared always for the possibility that each new discovery, no matter what science furnishes it, may modify the conclusions we draw."

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<span style="color: #27a4dd; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">**Later Life**
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Wegener published his final edition of his book //The Origin of Continents and Oceans// in 1929. A year later, he made a trip to Greenland for scientific observation as he had many times before. However, this expedition seemed ominous from the start; after poor weather caused slow supply flow, Alfred Wegener left his camp with several other men to retrieve more supplies. Unfortunately, he died on the return trip, most likely from cardiac arrest.

<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">Works Cited

<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">"Alfred Lothar Wegener [This Dynamic Earth, USGS]." //USGS Publications Warehouse//. Web. <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">14 Nov. 2011. [].

<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">"Alfred Wegener." //UCMP - University of California Museum of Paleontology//. Web. 14 Nov. <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">2011. [].

<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">Hughes, Patrick. "Alfred Wegener : Feature Articles." //NASA Earth Observatory : Home//. Web. <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">14 Nov. 2011. [].

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">pangea-continental-drift. 16 Nov. 2011. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[]

<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;"> scientists, inventors, and more.. "Alfred L. Wegener Quotes - 2 Science Quotes - Dictionary of Science Quotations and Scientist Quotes."// Today In Science History //. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. []

<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">wegener_greenland. 14 Nov. 2011. <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">[]

<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">wegener picture. 14 Nov. 2011. [].