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Abraham Ortelius
He was the first person to come up with the idea of continents being torn apart due to earthquakes and floods (continental drift) He proved his hypothesis by seeing see the shapes of the coasts of South America and Africa line up.The scientific community didn't accept his hypothesis as a real theory. -
Alfred Wegener
He was the first person to come up with the fact that plate tectonics drifted continents into different positions. Despite his numerous amounts of evidence like jigsaw and geological fit, tectonic plates, etc. the scientific community disagreed with his theory due to the fact that he didn't have any proof about the mechanism that caused the continental drifting. -
Arthur Holmes
He was the first person to suggest that the Earth's mantle contained convection cells that released radioactive heat allowing the crust above it top move. He also dated rocks and other minerals. His evidence to back up his theory was that the Earth is losing its heat, cooling the interior. (core) Scientists often rejected his theory, even though his theory proved what Wegener's lacked. -
Allen Cox, Richard Doell, & Brent Dalrymple
They succeeded in creating the first geomagnetic polarity (reversal) time scale which dated different rock spices. Scientist agreed with their theory because they noticed that some volcanic rocks were magnetized opposite to the direction of the local Earth's field. -
Harry Hammond Hess
He was the first person to outline and prove a theory on how the continents drifted due to seafloor spreading that used magma to form new oceanic crusts. His evidence proved his theory since the oceans were shallower in the middle, while the deepest parts of the ocean were extremely close to the continents. This allowed the scientific community to agree with his theory, especially since he identified the Mid-Ocean Ridges. -
Vine - Matthews - Morley hypothesis
This theory helped show the results of seafloor spreading which are, symmetrical magnetic patterns in the seafloor that aligns with the Earth's magnetic field when basalt arises from Earth's mantle. Since their hypothesis was the 1st scientific test on seafloor spreading, the scientific community agrees with their theory. -
Dan McKenzie
He was the first person to determine a precise mathematical theory using magnetic anomalies and earthquakes that solves geological problems and worked on the composition and behavior of the mantle. Scientists agreed with his theory due to now having modern technology to show the accuracy of his math techniques. -
Glomar Challenge
This was the first deep sea research and scientific drilling vessel that proved seafloor spreading and the presence of deep ocean salt domes, which indicated nearby oil. Scientist agreed with the information it provided, due to the fact that it was deep inside the oceanic crust.
