Throughout time, many ideas have come and gone about the movement of continents, some saying that it’s true, and some saying that it’s not. One theory, though, is the most well known and the one most people believe to be true. This is the continental drift theory, created by Alfred Wegener, a German meteorologist.
Alfred Lothar Wegener was born on November 1st, 1880 to a German family. He was the youngest child of Richard and Anna Wegener. He had 2 siblings, a sister named Tony Wegener, and a brother named Kurt Wegener, and both were older than him by more than 7 years. While his mother was only a housewife, his father ran an orphanage, was a minister, and taught at the Evangelisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster. He received a fairly average education during his childhood,but he was a very bright boy. At the age of 18 Alfred attended the University of Berlin to take various science courses. As his education went on, he discovered his interest in astronomy, meteorology, and physics. He was able to get his PhD in astronomy, but he decided to focus on the study of meteorology.
Wegener had his first expeditions in 1906. This year he went to Greenland as the official meteorologist. They explored the coastline of the island, something that hadn’t been done before.. During the …show more content…
He suffered two wounds and wasn’t able to join the remainder of the war. This and his exploration to Greenland slowed down his writing process, but he was able to publish his second book and most famous book “The Origin of Continents and Oceans”. He had already talked about continental drift in his research papers, in this book he provided more solid evidence that supported his theory. He also introduced the term “Pangea”, which refers to how the continents were all just one. Sadly, at the time, his theory was ignored by most of the scientific community as it didn’t fit in with their
Alfred Lothar Wegener was born on November 1st, 1880 to a German family. He was the youngest child of Richard and Anna Wegener. He had 2 siblings, a sister named Tony Wegener, and a brother named Kurt Wegener, and both were older than him by more than 7 years. While his mother was only a housewife, his father ran an orphanage, was a minister, and taught at the Evangelisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster. He received a fairly average education during his childhood,but he was a very bright boy. At the age of 18 Alfred attended the University of Berlin to take various science courses. As his education went on, he discovered his interest in astronomy, meteorology, and physics. He was able to get his PhD in astronomy, but he decided to focus on the study of meteorology.
Wegener had his first expeditions in 1906. This year he went to Greenland as the official meteorologist. They explored the coastline of the island, something that hadn’t been done before.. During the …show more content…
He suffered two wounds and wasn’t able to join the remainder of the war. This and his exploration to Greenland slowed down his writing process, but he was able to publish his second book and most famous book “The Origin of Continents and Oceans”. He had already talked about continental drift in his research papers, in this book he provided more solid evidence that supported his theory. He also introduced the term “Pangea”, which refers to how the continents were all just one. Sadly, at the time, his theory was ignored by most of the scientific community as it didn’t fit in with their