Alfred Wegener: Puzzle of the Continents
Makers of Modern Science is a 10-volume set that profiles the lives and achievements of scientists who made notable contributions to the advancement of science and society. Each volume covers a scientist whose work has had a major impact on a particular field. The scientist's accomplishments are discussed, including the scientific principles and personal struggles underlying his or her work. Employing an array of primary sources-diaries, memoirs, letters, and contemporary news accounts-as...
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Makers of Modern Science is a 10-volume set that profiles the lives and achievements of scientists who made notable contributions to the advancement of science and society. Each volume covers a scientist whose work has had a major impact on a particular field. The scientist's accomplishments are discussed, including the scientific principles and personal struggles underlying his or her work. Employing an array of primary sources-diaries, memoirs, letters, and contemporary news accounts-as well as secondary sources, the set depicts the human drama of scientific work, the challenge of research, and the exhilaration and rewards of discovery.Alfred Wegener recounts the life and work of the notable German meteorologist whose groundbreaking theory of continental displacement, later called continental drift, revolutionized the 18th- and 19th-century observations about the development of Earth that were embraced by his contemporary geologist peers. The book includes information on how Wegener reached his conclusions-from how the continents formed to what causes earthquakes and how Earth's surface continues to change-and how his theory of continental drift would not be generally accepted until well after his death in 1930.Alfred Wegener includes more than 30 photographs and line illustrations, a glossary, a chronology, a list of print and Internet resources, and an index. Makers of Modern Science is an essential set for students, teachers, and general readers that provides a factual look at the lives and outstanding contributions of prominent scientists.
Preface xAcknowledgments xiiiIntroduction xiv1 Changing Views of the Earth 1Earth's Early Days 2Competing Theories 4Catastrophes or Steady Change? 7Charles Lyell (1797-1875): Founder of Uniformitarianism 8Progressivism 10Floating in a Hidden Sea 12The Age of the Earth 16Earth Science in Turmoil 182 Weather Pioneer 20An Active Youth 20Meteorology: The Science of Weather 22Arctic Explorer 24Popular Teacher and Writer 27Wladimir Koppen (1846-1940): Pioneer Climatologist 30A Bizarre Idea 31Love and War 353 Continental Drift 38A Challenge to Geology 39Geologic Time 40Ancient Continents 41Another "Continental Drift" Theory 43A Moving Island 45Two Layers of Crust 46Matching Rocks 48Separated Twins 50Fossil Climates and Wandering Poles 53The Motors That Drive the Continents 554 "Utter, Damned Rot" 58Early Reactions to Drift 60Rejection in America 62Harsh Criticisms 63Powerful Feelings 64Different Approaches to Science 66Inductive and Deductive Reasoning 66Starting All Over 685 Death on the Ice 70Planning an Expedition 71A Frustrating Start 73Setting up Mid-Ice 75International Polar Year: A Modern Polar Adventure 78Visiting Mid-Ice 79Final Journey 81A Long Winter 83A Memorial to Wegener: The Alfred Wegener Institute 84Grim Discovery 856 Rumblings of Change 89New Mechanisms for Drift 90Support from South Africa 92Comic Relief 94Dragging Gravity 95Artificial Earthquakes 96War Spurs Marine Science 97Scripps, Woods Hole, and Lamont: Three Pioneering Institutions 98The Wound That Never Heals 99MagneticMoments 1037 The Plate Tectonics Revolution 106Seafloor Spreading 107Linking Spreading to Magnetic Changes 109Converging Lines of Evidence 113Eltanin 19: "Too Perfect" 114Shaking up Geology 116Mathematical Support 118A New Theory of Earth Movement 119Plate Tectonics Today 123Conclusion: Reaching into the Future 127Chronology 130Glossary 137Further Resources 142Index 150
