My Scientist …

Alfred Wegener Date of birth: November 1, 1880 Date of death: November 2, 1930

German nationality :

- Meteorologist- Led several expeditions to Greenland laid the foundations of continental drift

• Alfred Wegener was a German meteorologist, who presented a theory about the continents.

• He said that continents had been united in the past, as a continental mass, and have been separated slowly to the positions they occupy today.

• Alfred Wegener called it Pangaea supercontinent and Panthalassa to the only ocean around it that existed millions of years ago.

• Alfred Wegener’s arguments: • - The morphological shape of the continents is

complementary • - Identical in continent - paleontological fossils that are

separated today • - Paleo climate - Traces of glaciers in various continents that

today have different climates • - Identical geological – rocks

Wegener's theory was not accepted in the scientific community in that era because the mechanism remained of continental drift remained elusive; as he was not a geologist, his ideas attracted

few supporters and he had no great prestige.