Alfred Wegener - the Father of Plate Tectonics

Alfred Wegener(1880-1930) was the first man to propose the theory Ѓgplate tectonics.Ѓh He had got a Ph.D in astronomy from the University of Berlin, but he was also interested in the other science field such as geophysics, meteorology, and climatology. He also contributed to meteorology by establishing to track air circulation using balloon. In 1911, he read a paper that listed identical fossils of plants and animals found on opposite side of the Atlantic, and he looked for more of such organisms. At his time, such cases were explained by postulating land bridges which do not exist now. However, Wegener found that coastlines of South America and Africa match closely. As evidences he suggested the similarity of large-scale geological features on separate lands, such as Appalachian Mountains of North America and Scottish Highlands. He also suggested that indicated climate of the place fossils were found often differs from the climate of today. Those evidences lead him to publish WegenerЃfs theory of Ѓgcontinental draftЃh in 1915. In the book The Origin of Continents and Oceans, he wrote about 300