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Abraham Ortelius
In his 1596 geographical atlas, Ortelius pointed out that both Africa and South America had coastlines that could fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. He then proposed that the Earth's continents had originally been part of one giant supercontinent, later named Pangaea, but had drifted to their current locations over time. -
Alfred Wegener
Wegener realized not only that many of the continents' coastlines could fit together like a puzzle, but some species of animals and plants found in one continent are also found in other continents that are separated by large oceans. He also discovered that the type of rock that makes up the Appalachian mountains also makes up a mountain renge in northern Europe, which, if these continents were once connected, were originally part of the same mountain range -
Arthur Holmes
Holmes believed that the heat forces and currents in the Earth's mantle forced continents slowly away from each other, in a pattern now known as continental drift. Arthur realized that the radioactive forces trapped inside of Earth had to escape, thus causing continental drift. -
Alexander du Toit
Du Toit was one of the first scientists to research, accept, and promote the theory of continental drift. A native South African, Alexander took stratigraphic and radioisotope evidence from his homeland to prove his theory. His most famous publication, "Our Wandering Continents" was published in 1937, but this was near a decade after his first major discoveries in this field. -
Drummond Matthews
Matthews and Frederick Vine worked together to find out that the magnetic strips found on the sides of midocean ridges existed because of seafloor spreading. Drummond observed the Carlston Ridge, located in the northwest Indian Ocean, and discovered several magnetic anomalies. -
Harry Hess
Hess theorized that the movement of Earth's continents was caused by seafloor spreading. He backed up this theory by pointing out that Oceans were shallow in the center and midocean ridges were raised high above the surrounding area. -
Frederick J. Vine
Vine proposed that the seafloor of Earth spreads symmetrically from its midocean ridges. He used the fact that the basalt that is formed at the midocean ridges records Earth's magnetic field to back up his theory. -
Lawrence Morley
Marley hypothesized that the igneous rock that was on the ocean floor made up a magnetic pattern. He pointed out that over time, Earth's magnetic poles swap, or reverse, causing the rock types in midocean ridges to reorient in the opposite direction. Lawrence worked closely with Matthews and Vine to come up with seafloor spreading theories.
