Alfred Wegener
1880-1930
Meteorology and Geophysics
Known for his work in Meteorology and Geophysics
Alfred Wegener proposed his hypothesis of continental drift. Continental drift is the theory that all the continents were together as a giant continent called Pangaea. Alfred Wegener couldn't prove that the continents were all connected and they just drifted away. One piece of evidence that continental drift was true was that the continents, South America, and Africa look like they used to be connected, they look like puzzle pieces. When Alfred introduced that piece of proof, people said, okay but that isn't enough evidence to prove this theory. So Alfred Wegener told them that there were the same bones from the same dinosaur in South America and in Africa. He also said that the mountain ranges in Northeastern United states and the mountain ranges in Northern Europe, fit perfectly together. This means that the same type of rock and the same age of rock are in the same places. People said it was just a coincidence and maybe the mountain formed at the same time but that was very unlikely to happen. Eventually scientists said that Alfred Wegener’s theory was correct. Alfred Wegener was famous for his theory that blew the minds of scientists and proved that all the continents were once, pieced together and called Pangaea.
By: Matt Nicholson