Alfred Wegener “was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher,” Wikipedia says; NASA’s Earth Observatory calls him a “German meteorological pioneer and polar explorer.” “‘Doesn’t the east coast of South America fit exactly against the west coast of Africa, as if they had once been joined?’ wrote Wegener to his future wife in December 1910,” NASA says; in Wikipedia’s words, “Wegener first thought of this idea by noticing that the different large landmasses of the Earth almost fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.” “On 6 January 1912, he presented his first proposal of continental drift in a lecture to the Geologische Vereinigung (Geological Association) at the Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt am Main,” Wikipedia says, and “From 1912, Wegener publicly advocated the existence of ‘continental drift’, arguing that all the continents were once joined in a single landmass and had since drifted apart.” Wikipedia says “he was able in 1915 to complete the first version of his major work, Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane.”
“Withering criticism was the response of most experts,” Wikipedia says, among them “geologists, who viewed Wegener as an outsider and were resistant to change,” and “the mechanism remained a problem.” “His major problem was finding a force or forces that could make the continents ‘plow around in the mantle,’ as one critic put it,” NASA says. “‘Utter, damned rot!’ said the president of the prestigious American Philosophical Society,” and “most geologists eventually dismissed his theory as a fairy tale or ‘mere geopoetry.’” “Thus did most in the scientific community ridicule the concept that would revolutionize the earth sciences and revile the man who dared to propose it.”
“Wegener’s last Greenland expedition was in 1930. The 14 participants under his leadership were to establish three permanent stations,” Wikipedia says. One was Eismitte, “a meteorological station established, in the middle of the Greenland Ice Sheet.” But “only a fraction of the supplies meteorologist Georgi and glaciologist Ernest Sorge would need for the harsh Greenland winter reached Eismitte in the next month and a half,” NASA says, and “the men at Eismitte sent a message that they had insufficient fuel,” in Wikipedia’s words. So “on September 21 Wegener himself led a 15-dogsled run to relieve Eismitte”; he “wrote it was now ‘a matter of life and death’ for his friends at Eismitte.” “Wegener and his two remaining companions finally reached Eismitte on October 30, after traveling 40 days.” “The heroic rescue run had been unnecessary, but there had been no way to let Wegener know,” NASA says, and Wikipedia adds: “Georgi later found that he had underestimated the supplies, and that Wegener and Villumsen could have overwintered at Eismitte.”
“Two days later, on November 1, the group gaily celebrated Wegener’s 50th birthday. Then, because supplies were short and Fritz Lowe had to stay to recuperate, Wegener and Rasmus Villumsen, the wind now at their backs, set off confidently for the coast,” NASA says. Villumsen had come as a dog driver: German Wikipedia says “Villumsen nahm 1930 als Hundeführer an Alfred Wegeners 3. Deutschen Grönlandexpedition auf das Inlandeis Grönlands teil” (in 1930 Villumsen took part, as a dog driver, in Alfred Wegener’s third German Greenland expedition onto the Greenland ice sheet). “Their friends would never see them alive again.” “On May 12, 1931, they found Wegener’s body,” NASA says, and “Rasmus Villumsen obviously buried Wegener with great care and respect”; “it was believed that he had died of heart failure brought on by overexertion,” Wikipedia says. “Villumsen resumed his journey, but he was never seen again,” Wikipedia says, and “Though a long, exhaustive search was made, the faithful Greenlander’s body was never found,” in NASA’s words.
“The 1960s saw several relevant developments in geology, notably the discoveries of seafloor spreading and Wadati–Benioff zones, and this led to the rapid resurrection of the continental drift hypothesis in the form of its direct descendant, the theory of plate tectonics,” Wikipedia says; NASA says that “beginning in the mid-1950s, a series of confirming discoveries in paleomagnetism and oceanography finally convinced most scientists that continents do indeed move.” “His hypothesis was not accepted by mainstream geology until the 1960s,” and “Wegener was then posthumously recognised as the founding father of one of the major scientific revolutions of the 20th century,” Wikipedia says. “Thus, despite significant differences in detail, Alfred Wegener was right in most of his major concepts,” NASA says. “Unfortunately, as with most visionaries, it must be posthumous praise.”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- He said the continents were moving, but most experts laughed at him. Wikipedia: “today he is most remembered as the originator of the continental drift hypothesis by suggesting in 1912 that the continents are slowly drifting around the Earth”; “Withering criticism was the response of most experts.” NASA: “Thus did most in the scientific community ridicule the concept that would revolutionize the earth sciences and revile the man who dared to propose it.” 12
- His name was Alfred Wegener, a German scientist. Wikipedia: he “was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher.” 1
- He noticed South America and Africa fit together like puzzle pieces. NASA: “‘Doesn’t the east coast of South America fit exactly against the west coast of Africa, as if they had once been joined?’ wrote Wegener to his future wife in December 1910.” Wikipedia: “Wegener first thought of this idea by noticing that the different large landmasses of the Earth almost fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.” 21
- In 1912, he said the continents were once joined, and had drifted apart. Wikipedia: “On 6 January 1912, he presented his first proposal of continental drift in a lecture to the Geologische Vereinigung (Geological Association) at the Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt am Main”; “From 1912, Wegener publicly advocated the existence of ‘continental drift’, arguing that all the continents were once joined in a single landmass and had since drifted apart.” 1
- But he was a weather scientist, and couldn’t explain what moved them. Wikipedia: a “meteorologist”; “geologists, who viewed Wegener as an outsider and were resistant to change”; “the mechanism remained a problem.” NASA: “German meteorological pioneer and polar explorer Alfred Wegener”; “His major problem was finding a force or forces that could make the continents ‘plow around in the mantle,’ as one critic put it.” 12
- One scientist called it utter, damned rot. NASA: “‘Utter, damned rot!’ said the president of the prestigious American Philosophical Society.” 2
- Others called it a fairy tale. NASA: “most geologists eventually dismissed his theory as a fairy tale or ‘mere geopoetry.’” 2
- In 1930, he led an expedition to Greenland. Wikipedia: “Wegener’s last Greenland expedition was in 1930. The 14 participants under his leadership were to establish three permanent stations.” 1
- His men at the center of the ice ran low on supplies. NASA: “only a fraction of the supplies meteorologist Georgi and glaciologist Ernest Sorge would need for the harsh Greenland winter reached Eismitte in the next month and a half.” Wikipedia: “the men at Eismitte sent a message that they had insufficient fuel.” Wikipedia’s article on Eismitte: “a meteorological station established, in the middle of the Greenland Ice Sheet.” 213
- So he set out to rescue them. NASA: “on September 21 Wegener himself led a 15-dogsled run to relieve Eismitte”; “Wegener wrote it was now ‘a matter of life and death’ for his friends at Eismitte”; “The heroic rescue run had been unnecessary, but there had been no way to let Wegener know.” 2
- On his 50th birthday, he headed back with Rasmus Villumsen. NASA: “Two days later, on November 1, the group gaily celebrated Wegener’s 50th birthday. Then, because supplies were short and Fritz Lowe had to stay to recuperate, Wegener and Rasmus Villumsen, the wind now at their backs, set off confidently for the coast.” Polarforschung, June 30, 1931: “am 1. November” (on November 1). German Wikipedia: “Villumsen nahm 1930 als Hundeführer an Alfred Wegeners 3. Deutschen Grönlandexpedition auf das Inlandeis Grönlands teil” (in 1930 Villumsen took part, as a dog driver, in Alfred Wegener’s third German Greenland expedition onto the Greenland ice sheet). 254
- They never made it. NASA: “Their friends would never see them alive again.” Wikipedia: “but they never reached the camp.” 21
- In May, searchers found his body, carefully buried in the snow. NASA: “On May 12, 1931, they found Wegener’s body”; “Rasmus Villumsen obviously buried Wegener with great care and respect.” 2
- Rasmus was never found. NASA: “Though a long, exhaustive search was made, the faithful Greenlander’s body was never found.” Wikipedia: “Villumsen resumed his journey, but he was never seen again.” 21
- Then in the 1960s, the ocean floor proved the continents really do move. Wikipedia: “The 1960s saw several relevant developments in geology, notably the discoveries of seafloor spreading and Wadati–Benioff zones, and this led to the rapid resurrection of the continental drift hypothesis in the form of its direct descendant, the theory of plate tectonics.” NASA: “beginning in the mid-1950s, a series of confirming discoveries in paleomagnetism and oceanography finally convinced most scientists that continents do indeed move.” 12
- He died on the ice, decades before they admitted he was right. Wikipedia: “His hypothesis was not accepted by mainstream geology until the 1960s”; “Wegener was then posthumously recognised as the founding father of one of the major scientific revolutions of the 20th century.” NASA: “Unfortunately, as with most visionaries, it must be posthumous praise”; “Thus, despite significant differences in detail, Alfred Wegener was right in most of his major concepts.” 12
Sources
- Alfred Wegener Wikipedia
- Alfred Wegener (February 8, 2001) NASA Earth Observatory
- Eismitte Wikipedia
- Rasmus Villumsen German Wikipedia
- Polarforschung 1(1), June 30, 1931, page 1: “Prof. Alfred Wegener †” Wikimedia Commons
Notes
“Laughed at him”: Wikipedia also says that Wegener “has been mischaracterised as a lone genius whose theory of continental drift met widespread rejection until well after his death. In fact, the main tenets of the theory gained widespread acceptance by European researchers already in the 1920s … However, the theory took longer to be accepted in North America.” The Short says “most experts laughed at him,” which NASA (“most in the scientific community ridicule”) and Wikipedia (“Withering criticism was the response of most experts”; the 1926 symposium in New York brought “rejection from everyone but the chairman”) support, and mainstream geology accepted the idea only in the 1960s.
Who said “Utter, damned rot!”: NASA names only “the president of the prestigious American Philosophical Society.” The Short says “One scientist” and names nobody, and so do we.
The dates: he reached Eismitte on October 30, after 40 days (NASA; German Wikipedia), or October 19 (English Wikipedia). He left on November 1, his 50th birthday (NASA; the 1931 Polarforschung report says “am 1. November”). When and how he died is unknown: German Wikipedia says “vermutlich um den 16. November 1930” (probably around November 16, 1930), and it was believed to be heart failure from overexertion (Wikipedia, NASA). His body was found on May 12, 1931 (NASA); English Wikipedia’s article on the German Greenland Expedition says April, when the search party set out. The Short says only “In May.”
Villumsen’s age: 22 (NASA; German Wikipedia gives his birth date as November 17, 1907) or 27 (English Wikipedia), so we leave it out.
“Proved him right”: plate tectonics kept his drifting continents but not his mechanism (NASA: “despite significant differences in detail”), so the Short says the ocean floor proved that “the continents really do move,” not that every detail was right.
The trip was unnecessary (NASA; Georgi’s later finding, in Wikipedia). The Short has no room for it; the story above tells it.
Pictures: Alfred Wegener himself is in a portrait of about 1924–30 and one of 1910 (photographers unknown), and in Achton Friis’s drawing of 1913, published in J. P. Koch’s Durch die weiße Wüste (1919). The maps are his reconstructions of the continents in the Upper Carboniferous, Eocene and Older Quaternary, figure 1 of The Origin of Continents and Oceans (1924). The photographs of the German Greenland Expedition of 1930–31, by Fritz Loewe, Johannes Georgi, Ernst Sorge and Wegener (Alfred Wegener Institute), show the expedition, not his last journey: a weather balloon launch, dog sledges in drifting snow, the Eismitte station and its snow-block tower, two expedition members (not named) in an ice cave by lamplight, a propeller sledge, and one member on the ice sheet. The printed page is page 1 of Polarforschung of June 30, 1931, headed “Prof. Alfred Wegener †. Die Deutsche Inlandeis-Expedition 1929/31.” The ocean-floor age map is NOAA’s of 1996, not the 1960s discoveries.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0); Mendelssohn, The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave), Overture, Op. 26 (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, public domain); Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 'Pathetique', Op. 74: IV. Finale: Adagio lamentoso (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0); Brahms, Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: IV. Adagio - Piu andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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