Alfred Wegener

<p> </p>
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<p style="margin-left: 240px;"><img alt="" src="/earth520/sites/www.e-education.psu.edu.earth520/files/earth520/Wegener1.png" style="width: 100px; height: 120px;"></p>
<p>Alfred Lothar Wegener was Born November 1, 1880., in Berlin. He lived 50 years and passed away in 1930.  Wegener came from a wealthy family, and was the youngest of five siblings.</p>
<p>After showing promise as a young student, Wegener began his time at the university in Berlin. He specialized in astronomy, meteorology, and physics. At the age of 22, he began working toward his Ph.D. in Astronomy. He was able to study at the Urania Observatory. The goal of Urania Observatory is still to raise public awareness to astronomy. Wegener removed himself from astronomy and chose to study meteorology instead. He believed he could make greater contributions in this field.</p>
<p>Wegener held three jobs from 1905 – 1910. He began as a meteorologist for a weather station in Beeskow with his brother. The two used weather balloons to chart air movement. Alfred Wegener then was appointed as the official meteorologists during an expedition to chart Greenland’s northeast coast. He again used balloons and added kites to his list of tools to chart atmospheric readings. Alfred helped to establish Greenland’s first Meteorological station during The <em>Danmark</em> Expedition. </p>
<p>Finally, he “settled down,” for a time, at the University of Marburg in Germany. It was during his time lecturing where he published his first book of meteorological finding in the book <em>Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere.</em> Wegener had a reputation of simply explaining complex topics to his students (sounds like a great middle school teacher).</p>
<p>In 1930 Alfred Wegener’s life was cut short, due to chilling temperatures of -60 ° C. He was on his fourth expedition to Greenland. He and a colleague attempted and succeeded in resupplying a remote camp. Upon travel to another camp he passed away.  He would have been 50 on November 1, 1930.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; font-family: 'open sans', helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><img alt="" src="/earth520/sites/www.e-education.psu.edu.earth520/files/earth520/alfred-wegener-3.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 300px;"></p>
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<p>Perhaps Wegener’s greatest contribution to Plate Tectonics and modern science was his idea of Continental Drift.  In 1910, Wegener first noticed the coast of South America and Africa seemed to line up.  This discovery prompted further research.</p>
<p><strong>Fossil and Geological Research:</strong></p>
<p>In 1911, Wegener noticed similar fossils of the same species could be found in Brazil and western Africa. At the age of 32, Wegener published two papers regarding how the continents moved. He found evidence that Greenland, on an expedition of course, was connected to North America.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; font-family: 'open sans', helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">In His Second book, <em>The Origin of Continents and Oceans, </em>Wegener proposed there was a time in history when Earth had a single continent. This land mass, Pangaea,  slowly separated until it formed the continents we see today. </p>
<h3 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; outline: 0px; font-family: 'aleo regular', sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(68, 68, 68);"><img alt="Wegener found that identical fossils could be found on different continents, supporting his theory that continents which are now far apart were once linked." longdesc="" src="/earth520/sites/www.e-education.psu.edu.earth520/files/earth520/fossil-evidence-continen... style="width: 500px; height: 366px;"></h3>
<p><strong>"Wegener found that identical fossils could be found on different continents, supporting his theory that continents which are now far apart were once linked."</strong></p>
<p><strong>Unaccepted Ideas</strong>:</p>
<p>Many geologists shunned Wegener’s idea. Many scientists do not “approve” of an interdisciplinary person developing a big idea. Wegener was a well-respected meteorologist, therefore, many geologists did not accept his idea.</p>
<p>Wegener had overwhelming amounts of data and evidence to support his idea. Much of his evidence was very convincing except for one large mistake. POLFLUCHT! Like it sounds, Polflucht, is a German word meaning pole-flight. Alfred proposed a force that pushed continents away from the equator and to the poles of the Earth.</p>
<p>Geologists were quick to explain to him, this was untrue. With that fact, they disregarded his entire theory, and lost major components of the Plate Tectonic Theory we know today.</p>
<p><strong>Finally</strong>:</p>
<p>In the 1960’s, geologists accepted Wegener’s idea of continental drift. They also accepted the concept of Pangaea. Today, Wegener’s ideas are taught to introductory level geology classes around the world. </p>
<p><img alt="" src="/earth520/sites/www.e-education.psu.edu.earth520/files/earth520/alfred-wegener-pangaea.p... style="width: 500px; height: 267px;"></p>
<p><strong>"From <em>The Origin of Continents and Oceans</em>: Alfred Wegener’s view of the super continent and super ocean that existed on Earth about 300 million years ago. Color added by the website listed below."</strong></p>
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<ul>
<li>Established Greenland’s first Meteorological Station – 1906 -1908</li>
<li>Published <em>Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere</em>: Simply explaining changing heat of the atmosphere.</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>Participated in four different polar expeditions</li>
<li>He broke a world record staying in an air balloon for 52.5 hours.</li>
<li>Wegener served in the German Army and was wounded twice in World War I.</li>
<li>While his work was separate from American Geologists, Frank Bursley Taylor, people referred to continental drift as the Taylor-Wegener theory.</li>
<li>
<p>German Research Institute for Polar Science and Marine Science is named after him</p>
</li>
<li>The Amoeba People created a song called Alfred Wegener Song. The link can be found below.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1-cES1Ekto">https://www.youtube...
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<h3 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; outline: 0px; font-family: 'aleo regular', sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(68, 68, 68);">Bibliography </h3>
<pre class="code" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow: auto; font-family: monospace, monospace; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Alfred Wegener." Famous Scientists. famousscientists.org. 20 Mar. 2015. Web. 9/12/2016
<http://www.famousscientists.org/alfred-wegener/>.</pre>
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<div class="latest_citation_text hang mla7" id="latest_citation_text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 3em; text-indent: -2em; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, "TeX Gyre Heros", TeXGyreHeros, FreeSans, "Nimbus Sans L", "Liberation Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span class="citation_text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px; word-wrap: break-word; margin-top: 5px;">Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Alfred Lothar Wegener." <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Encyclopedia Britannica Online</i>. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2016. <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Wegener>.</span&gt...
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<div class="latest_citation_text hang mla7" id="latest_citation_text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 3em; text-indent: -2em; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, "TeX Gyre Heros", TeXGyreHeros, FreeSans, "Nimbus Sans L", "Liberation Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="citation_text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px; word-wrap: break-word; margin-top: 5px;">Kehrt, Christian. "The Wegener Diaries: Scientific Expeditions into the Eternal Ice." <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Biography Alfred Wegener</i>. Environment and Society Portal, 2013. Web. 13 Sept. 2016. <http://www.environmentandsociety.org/exhibitions/wegener-diaries/biograp...
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