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Alfred Wegener was born November 1, 1880 in Berlin, Germany with his father who was a minister and ran an orphanage.
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Alfred studied astronomy in 1905 and earned his Ph.d, but he was always interested in the fields of meterology and climatology.
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In 1912, Alfred publicly advocated the theory of "continental drift". After noticing that the different large landmasses of the Earth seem to fit together, he searched for strong physical evidence to support his theory. During his speech, he argued that the contients were once joined toghther in a single landmass and have drifted apart.
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In 1915, Alfred gathered evidence from various fields, and in "The Origins of Continents and Oceans" he published the theory there had once been a giant contient he named "Pangaea".
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Alfred presented strong evidence in support of continental drift, but was generally met with skepticism from largely conservative scientists. In 1925, one American edtion of Alfred's work recieved such critisism, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists argued the oceanic crust was too "firm" for the continents to "simply plough through".
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In 1930 Alfred sailed from Denmark as the leader of his forth and last expedition to Germany. He celebrated his fiftieth birthday on Nov. 1, but shortly afterwards the team got separated, and he was lost in a blizzard.
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In the early 1950's, the new science of paleomagnetism pioneered by scientits at Cambrige University and Imperial College were soon producing data in favor of Alfred's theory.
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By early 1953 samples taken from India showed that the country had previously been in the Southern hemisphere by Alfred.
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The 1960's saw several developments in geology leading to the resurrection of the continential drift hypothesis. Alfred was quickly recognized as a founding father of one of the major scientific revolutions of the 20th century.
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Alfred's theory had enouh supporting data that miinds were starting to change, particulary in the U.K. where in 1964, the Royal society held a symposium on the subject.
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The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Reserch in Bremerhaven, Germany was established in 1980 on Alfred's centenary, awarding the Wegener Medel inhis name.
