The theory of the continental drift was proposed by the German geographer and geologist Alfred Wegener on basis of the accumulated scientific facts. He formulated the first scientific theory of the slow continental drift in 1912. He mentioned the numerous similarities in the geological structure of the continents and the generality of the fossilized flora and fauna in the geological past. The weighty proof also was the coincidence of the climate in the distant geological eras.
Alfred Wegener was born on first of November in 1880 in the center of Brooklyn in the family of the famous scientist. He started to show the inclination to the science when he was a kid. Wegener and his brother measured the depth of the lakes and drew the maps of the region. Young Alfred attended the lectures in the gymnasium in Cologne. His favorite subjects were physics and chemistry. Moreover, a future geologist and traveler actively went in for sports. His dream was to become an astronomer. In 1899, he left the school with the best certificate in the group and joined the Frederick William University where he learned Math, astronomy and meteorology. In the second term, Wegener joined the Heidelberg University; however, he did not attend the lectures and preferred the fencing and the beer. After that, he returned to Berlin and devoted himself to the studies. In 1904, he defended the thesis.
After the graduation, Alfred Wegener worked with his brother in the observatory of the aeronauts in Berlin, where he did the observations and flew on the balloon. The flights became the great passion of the young scientist. In 1906, brothers succeeded in setting up the record: they spent fifty-two hours in the air on the balloon. It was seventeen hours more than the previous record. With the flights, his passion and his indomitable will became apparent. In 1906, Wegener as a meteorologist took a part in the expedition to Greenland. The goal of the expedition was to learn the North bank of Greenland. Wegener fell in love with the beauty of the ice nature of Greenland. In addition, he connected his life with this country (Yount, 2009, p. 15). In his family life, Wegener was the graphic example of the classical German scientist of the first ten years of the twentieth century.
The movements of his scientific thought were such a non-typical. Everything went in the certain channel. He was careful husband and the father of three daughters. During his quite common for that times career of polar explorer and university professor, something important was happening. Something thanks to what Wegener would be unforgettable while the geology existed – the development of the conception of continental drift. There are some author’s commentaries in the one of his works:
“The first concept of continental drift first came to me as far back as 1910, when considering the map of the world, under the direct impression produced by the congruence of the coastlines on either side of the Atlantic As a result I undertook a cursory examination of relevant research in the fields of geology and paleontology” (Wegener, 1966, p. 1)
It is only fair to say that Wegener was not the first one who paid attention to that problem. Moreover, he was not the one who firstly spoke about the continental drift. In 1620, Francis Bacon also wrote about it. In addition, it is possible to find the mentions of the drift in the book of Mikhail Lomonosov. American F. Taylor wrote about the idea of the drift more thoroughly. As opposed to Wegener he was a professional geologist; he observed the orogenic belts of the Mediterranean. In the work that was published in 1910, he explained their forming through the collision of continental masses of Eurasia and Africa. However, Taylor spoke about this theory in the regional context so it did not get the development (Oreskes, 1999, p. 81). Consequently, the creation of the continental drift conception as a system integrity is only a Wegener’s merit.
Certainly, the conception was based not only on the coincidence of coasts’ outlines of Circum-Atlantic. Wegener was not a regional geologist but he had up the plentiful geological-tectonic and paleontological materials – about the prolongation of the plicate belts from both sides of Atlantic, about the Gondwana’s flora and fauna and about the areal glaciation in the lower widths of southern hemisphere (McCoy, 2006, p. 25). The result was the series of publications in 1912 that were interrupted firstly because of the second Greenland expedition and secondly because of World War.
It seems that the war exerted influence upon the development of the continental drift conception as it generally was developed by Wegener in 1915-1916 while the vacation because of the wounding. It seems like he worked on it just because there was nothing else to do, without an opportunity to return to his actual work – at that time he thought the meteorologist is his main affair. In any case Wegener’s ninety-page brochure “The Origin of Continents and Oceans” was published in 1915. Many scientists compared it to memoirs of Nicolaus Copernicus. After the war, second (1920) and third (1922) editions of the book. It was translated into several languages. Wegener’s conception excited different types of emotions except the only one – indifference. Geological world was divided into the two antagonistic classes – the ones who supported it and the ones who cruelly criticized it. Strangely enough among the first ones were many recognized geologists especially specialists on geology of South hemisphere. Also, there was F. Taylor among them.
The hypothesis refuted the existent at that time ideas. It became the topic of many acute disputes in the scientific world. The opponents of Wegener considered that the continents move just in a vertical range. Consequently, when the earth’s crust is raising the land forms and when it’s going down – the seas and oceans form. Nevertheless, Wegener with conviction spoke about horizontal moving of continents – they are “sliding apart”, “drifting”. As a result, the oceans form. Unfortunately, Wegener’s hypothesis was denied by the majority. Critics were mostly geophysics and their main accusations were caused by Wegener’s dilettantism. Of course, there also were enough critics among traditional geologists. However, on this hand the main objection against the conception was in particular the weakness of the basis of its geodynamic side. In other words, the one of the hypothesis’ weak spot was the difficulty with the explanation of the “mechanism” that makes the continents move.
It can hardly be said that Wegener did not take a part in the discussion. Nevertheless, it was originally for him: in response he just prepared the fourth edition that was essentially extended and remarked – its volume was raised to two hundred pages. The fourth edition was published in the 1929 – almost before the departure to Greenland. It contained everything: the essence of the conception of continents drift, the arguments in its favor, geophysical, geological-tectonic, paleontological, paleoclimatic confirmations of theory and quit careful suppositions about the forces that cause the continents drift. However, it did not contain the only one thing: the fanatic conviction of self-rightfulness – with all convincing argumentation. So as the result there was no confidence in the wrongfulness of the opponents.
Wegener’s life stopped suddenly on the peak of his conception’s popularity. The sharpness of the conception between those who supported the continental drift and those who refuted it declined by the middle of thirties. The main reason was the omission of the conception with the clearly geological methods. Among the new generation, the studies about the geosynclines were gathering strength. However, it was also elusive – its popularity was caused by the literary talent of the main developer, Hans Stille. As the historian Marc Bloch said, in the sciences where there is nothing to prove it is very important to convince. In addition, by the force of argument, Stille’s works may be compared with the works of classical authors. Nevertheless, those who accepted the idea of continental drift did not change their opinion. Du Toit continued gathering the information in its support. He also developed its certain conceptual side.
The attitude towards the conception of continental drift started to change with the observation of the ocean geology. There were the discovery of the Mid-ocean ridge and the discovery of the stripping magnetic anomaly in the deep-water part of the oceans. On the continents – the universal proof of the tectonic covers in the plicate regions, the paleomagnetic data about the changing of the continents’ disposition relatively the modern coordinate system, the finds of the tropical fauna in the high widths and the inexplicable climatic changes. Finally, the mathematical modeling showed the good coincidence of the boards of the continental masses not only for Circum-Atlantic but also for the rest of the continents.
Certainly, the modern tectonic of plates went far away from the Wegener’s ideas. Moreover, the studies of just the transform breaks, the frontier zones between the ocean and the continent, the development of the conception of the tectonic terrains – it all washed out the main idea about the lithospheric plates as the absolutely tough fragments which passively drift under the impact of the deep-laid convecting streams. However, all present modifications of the geologic theories develop in the way of mobilismus. Its foundation was laid by Wegener – the experimenter and the analyst, the author of the first-ever geodynamic conception.
Nowadays, Wegener’s hypothesis is well-known as the hypothesis of the drifting continents. The one supercontinent of the Paleozoic that later split up, Wegener named “Pangaea” what means the entire land (Frisch, Meschede, & Blakey, 2011, p. 49). The hypothesis is universally recognized. It develops due to the level of the modern science. Alfred Wegener had the decisive influence on the world geology. The results of his scientific achievements are mentioned in the plenty of scientific magazines as the geology articles and also as the references in the other scientific articles that are based on his theory. Wegener’s works were translated into many languages from all over the world.
References
Frisch, W., Meschede, M., & Blakey, R. C. (2011). Plate tectonics: Continental drift and mountain building. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
McCoy, R. M. (2006). Ending in Ice: The revolutionary Idea and tragic expedition of Alfred Wegener. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Oreskes, N. (1999). The rejection of continental drift: Theory and method in American earth science. New York: Oxford University Press.
Wegener, A. (1966). The origin of continents and oceans. New York: Dover Publications.
Yount, L. (2009). Alfred Wegener: Creator of the continental drift theory. New York: Chelsea House Publishers.
