Alfred Lothar Wegener (Berlin, November 1, 1880 – Greenland, November 2 or 3, 1930) was a German scientist and meteorologist. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Events 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk Bishop of Freising which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi Year 1880 ( MDCCCLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat meaning "Land of the Greenlanders" Grønland is a self-governing Danish Province located between the Events 1570 - A Tidal wave in the North Sea devastates the coast from Holland to Jutland, killing more than 1000 Events 644 - Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim Caliph, is killed by a Persian slave in Medina. Year 1930 ( MCMXXX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. A scientist, in the broadest sense refers to any person that engages in a systematic activity to acquire Knowledge or an individual that engages in such practices Meteorology (from Greek grc μετέωρος metéōros, "high in the sky" and grc -λογία -logia) is the Interdisciplinary He is most notable for his theory of continental drift (Kontinentalverschiebung), proposed in 1912, which hypothesized that the continents were slowly drifting around the Earth. Continental drift is the movement of the Earth 's Continents relative to each other A continent is one of several large Landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by Convention rather than any strict criteria with seven regions However, at the time he was unable to demonstrate a mechanism for this movement; this combined with a lack of solid evidence meant that his hypothesis was not accepted until the 1950s, when numerous discoveries provided evidence of continental drift. The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive [1]
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Career
Wegener had early training in astronomy (Ph.D., University of Berlin, 1904). Astronomy (from the Greek words astron (ἄστρον "star" and nomos (νόμος "law" is the scientific study "PhD" redirects here for other uses see PhD (disambiguation. Year 1904 ( MCMIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting on He became very 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. Meteorology (from Greek grc μετέωρος metéōros, "high in the sky" and grc -λογία -logia) is the Interdisciplinary Wladimir Peter Köppen (Владимир Петрович Кёппен (born September 25, 1846 in Saint Petersburg, Russia &mdash died "Ballooning" redirects here For the behavior of Spiders and other Arthropods see Ballooning (spider. A weather or sounding balloon is a Balloon (specifically a type of High altitude balloon) which carries instruments aloft to send back information 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. Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat meaning "Land of the Greenlanders" Grønland is a self-governing Danish Province located between the A geographical pole, or geographic pole, is either of two fixed points on the surface of a spinning body or Planet, at 90 degrees from the Equator, based Jet streams are fast flowing relatively narrow air currents found at the Tropopause, the transition between the Troposphere (where temperature decreases On his last expedition, Alfred Wegener and his companion Rasmus Villumsen went missing in November 1930. Year 1930 ( MCMXXX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Wegener's body was found on May 12, 1931. Events 1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre. Year 1931 ( MCMXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. His suspected cause of death was heart failure through overexertion. Heart failure is a Cardiac condition that occurs when a problem with the structure or function of the Heart impairs its ability to supply
Continental Drift
Browsing the library at the University of Marburg, where he was teaching in 1911, Wegener was struck by the occurrence of identical fossils in geological strata that are now separated by oceans. The University of Marburg (Philipps-Universität Marburg 'Philip's University Marburg' was founded in 1527 by Landgrave Philip I of Hesse (usually Year 1911 ( MCMXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year FOSSIL is a standard protocol for allowing serial communication for Telecommunications programs under the DOS Operating system. An ocean (from Greek, ''Okeanos'' (Oceanus) is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the Hydrosphere. The accepted explanations or theories at the time posited land bridges to explain the fossil anomalies; animals and plants could have migrated between fixed separate continents by crossing the land bridges. A land bridge, in Biogeography, is an Isthmus or other land connection between otherwise separate areas which allows Animals and Plants But Wegener was increasingly convinced that the continents themselves had shifted away from a primal single massive supercontinent, which drifted apart about 180 million years ago, to judge from the fossil evidence. In Geology, a supercontinent is a Landmass comprising more than one Continental core or Craton. Annum is one form of the Latin noun meaning Year, not a form normally used for derivatives in modern languages the accusative singular [2] Wegener used land features, fossils, and climate as evidence to support his hypothesis of continental drift. Examples of land features such as mountain ranges in Africa and South America lined up; also coal fields on Europe matched up with coal fields in North America. Wegener noticed that fossils from reptiles such as Mesosaurus and Lystrosaurus were found in places that are now separated by oceans. Since neither reptile could have swam great distances, Wegener inferred that these reptiles had once lived on a single landmass that split apart.
From 1912 he publicly advocated the theory of "continental drift", arguing that all the continents were once joined together in a single landmass and have drifted apart. Year 1912 ( MCMXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting Continental drift is the movement of the Earth 's Continents relative to each other
In 1915, 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, he named "Pangaea" (meaning "All-Lands" or "All-Earth") and drew together evidence from various fields. Year 1915 ( MCMXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Pangaea, Pangæa or Pangea (pænˈdʒiːə from παν pan, meaning entire, and Γαῖα Gaea, meaning Earth in Expanded editions during the 1920s presented the accumulating evidence. The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the " Jazz Age " or the " Roaring Twenties " when speaking about the United States and Canada 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 continents toward the equator as the Earth spun. He thought that inertia, from centrifugal movement combined with tidal drag on the continents (caused by the gravitational pull of the sun and moon) would account for continental drift. The vis insita or innate force of matter is a power of resisting by which every body as much as in it lies endeavors to preserve in its present state whether it be of rest or of moving
Reaction
In his work, Wegener presented a large amount of circumstantial evidence in support of continental drift, but he was unable to come up with a convincing mechanism. Thus, while his ideas attracted a few early supporters such as Alexander Du Toit from South Africa and Arthur Holmes in England, the hypothesis was generally met with skepticism. Alexander Logie du Toit ("DOO-TOY" ( 14 March 1878 &ndash 25 February 1948) was a Geologist from South Africa Arthur Holmes ( January 14 1890 &ndash September 20 1965) was a British Geologist. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The one American edition of Wegener's work, published in 1924, was received so poorly that the American Association of Petroleum Geologists organized a symposium specifically in opposition to the continental drift hypothesis. Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (or AAPG) is one of the world's largest professional geological societies with over 31000 members as of 2007 Also its opponents could, as did the Leipziger geologist Franz Kossmat, argue that the oceanic crust was too firm for the continents "simply to plow through". This sort of fix restores section edit linkpoints to where they belong Franz Kossmat ( 22 August 1871 in Vienna &ndash 1 December 1938 in Leipzig) was an Austrian German By the 1930s, Wegener's geological work was almost universally dismissed by the scientific community and remained obscure for some thirty years.
In the 1950s and 1960s, several developments in geology, notably the discoveries of seafloor spreading and Wadati-Benioff zones, led to the rapid resurrection of the continental drift hypothesis and its direct descendant, the theory of plate tectonics. Seafloor spreading occurs at Mid-ocean ridges where new Oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge A Wadati-Benioff zone (also Benioff-Wadati zone or Benioff zone) is a deep active seismic area in a Subduction zone Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων tektōn "builder" or "mason" describes the large scale motions of Earth 's Lithosphere Alfred Wegener was quickly recognized as a founding father of one of the major scientific revolutions of the 20th century.
Awards and honors
The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, was established in 1980 on his centenary. The Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and Marine Research is a scientific organization located in Bremerhaven, Germany. Bremerhaven (bʁeːmɐˈhaːfən is the seaport of the free city and federal state of Bremen, Germany. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) It awards the Wegener Medal in his name. [3] The Wegener impact craters on both Mars and the Moon, as well as the asteroid 29227 Wegener and the peninsula where he died in Greenland (Wegener Peninsula near Ummannaq, ), are named after him. In the broadest sense the term impact crater can be applied to any depression natural or manmade resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with larger body Asteroids, sometimes called Minor planets or planetoids', are bodies—primarily of the inner Solar System —that are smaller than planets but 29227 Wegener (1992 DY13 is a Main-belt Asteroid discovered on February 29, 1992 by F [4]
See also
References
- ^ Spaulding, Nancy E. Continental drift is the movement of the Earth 's Continents relative to each other Gondwana (ɡɒnˈdwɑːnə originally Gondwanaland) was a southern Supercontinent that existed about 500 to 200 Ma ago A land bridge, in Biogeography, is an Isthmus or other land connection between otherwise separate areas which allows Animals and Plants Laurasia (lɔˈreɪʃiə lɔˈreɪʒə was a Supercontinent that most recently existed as a part of the split of the Pangaean supercontinent in the late Mesozoic Pangaea, Pangæa or Pangea (pænˈdʒiːə from παν pan, meaning entire, and Γαῖα Gaea, meaning Earth in Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων tektōn "builder" or "mason" describes the large scale motions of Earth 's Lithosphere Seafloor spreading occurs at Mid-ocean ridges where new Oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge In Geology, a supercontinent is a Landmass comprising more than one Continental core or Craton. Roberto Mantovani ( March 25 1854 &ndash January 10 1933) was an Italian Geologist and Violinist. , and Samuel N. Namowitz. Earth Science. Boston: McDougal Littell, 2005.
- ^ http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/wegener.html Alfred Wegener (1880-1930)
- ^ http://www.awi.de/fileadmin/user_upload/News/Print_Products/PDF/252-265_Kap12.pdf Alfred Wegener Institute, 2005 Annual report, page 259
- ^ JPL Small-Body Database Browser
Further reading
- Wegener, Alfred (1966). The Origin of Continents and Oceans. New York: Dover. - (Translated from the fourth revised German edition by John Biram)
- Wegener, Alfred (1968). The Origin of Continents and Oceans. London: Methuen. - (Translated from the fourth German edition by John Biram with an introduction by B. C. King)
- Wegener, Elsie (Editor, with the assistance of Dr. Fritz Loewe) (1939). Greenland Journey, The Story of Wegener’s German Expedition to Greenland in 1930-31 as told by Members of the Expedition and the Leader’s Diary. London: Blackie & Son Ltd. . - (Translated from the seventh German edition by Winifred M. Deans)
External links
- Wegener Institute website (English)
- USGS biography of Wegener
- Wegener biography at Pangaea.org
- Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) - Biographical material
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Wegener, Alfred Lothar |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Interdisciplinary scientist and creator of the theory of continental drift |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 1, 1880 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin, Germany |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 2 or 3, 1930 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Greenland |
Continental drift is the movement of the Earth 's Continents relative to each other Events 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk Bishop of Freising which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi Year 1880 ( MDCCCLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Events 1570 - A Tidal wave in the North Sea devastates the coast from Holland to Jutland, killing more than 1000 Events 644 - Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim Caliph, is killed by a Persian slave in Medina. Year 1930 ( MCMXXX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat meaning "Land of the Greenlanders" Grønland is a self-governing Danish Province located between the
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