1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:06,800 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Alfred Wegener presented his ideas on continental drift 2 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: before the Geological Association in Frankfort on January sixth, nineteen twelve, 3 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: or one hundred and twelve years ago today, So our 4 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: episode on him and the controversy about his research is 5 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:23,320 Speaker 1: Today's Saturday Classic. This originally came out December ninth, twenty nineteen. 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:29,639 Speaker 1: Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a 7 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 8 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,599 Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. I really love 9 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: historical disputes, especially when it's some kind of scientific or 10 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:51,280 Speaker 1: technical discovery or advancement, or some kind of medical something 11 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: that people were arguing over, Like when I've been trying 12 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: to figure out what to talk about next and nothing 13 00:00:57,520 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: on my list is really grabbing me at the moment. 14 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: Sometimes helped googling, like scientific disputes in history. This is 15 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:09,480 Speaker 1: one that I've been hanging on to for a while, 16 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,319 Speaker 1: and it's Alfred Wegener and the dispute over his theory 17 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: of continental drift. And I really expected this episode to 18 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,679 Speaker 1: sound a lot like our previous one on Ignat Semmelweiss 19 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: and hand washing, except geology, because that's how the story 20 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 1: gets told a lot of the time, especially to a 21 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: general audience. It kind of gets summed up as Alfred 22 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: Wegener introduced his theory of continental drift and was basically 23 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: laughed out of the academy, and then after his tragic 24 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 1: and untimely death, he was proved to be more or 25 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: less right and for a discovery that was as important 26 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 1: to the field of geology as the discovery of DNA 27 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:52,920 Speaker 1: is to biology. But that is really not how this 28 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: story goes at all. Alfred Wegener had a huge career 29 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: outside of his ideas around what we understand today as 30 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: plate tectonics. He did important and respected work that touched 31 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: on a lot of different disciplines, and while there were 32 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:11,359 Speaker 1: definitely people who were very critical and even hostile when 33 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: it came to what he called continental drift, he did 34 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: have his supporters, or at least people who were willing 35 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: to entertain the idea that he could potentially be right. 36 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: Alfred Wegener was born Alfred Lothar Wegener on November first, 37 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty in Berlin, Germany. His parents were Richard and 38 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: Anna Vigener, and they had five children, Three of whom 39 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: survived infancy, Alfred was the youngest. His older brother and 40 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:41,040 Speaker 1: sister who survived were named Kurt and Tony. The men 41 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: in the Wagner family typically went into the clergy, and 42 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,360 Speaker 1: that was also true for Alfred's father. He was a 43 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: theologian and a classicist, and a pastor and an orphanage director. 44 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:54,679 Speaker 1: He also taught at the local gymnasium, but it was 45 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: against the rules for Kurt and Alfred to attend the 46 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: same school where he was working because he their father, 47 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: so they attended a different school and both wound up 48 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 1: pursuing an education in science rather than following that family 49 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:11,359 Speaker 1: tradition into the church. Kurt studied geophysics and Alfred studied 50 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: at universities in Heidelberg, Innsbruck, and Berlin before getting a 51 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: doctorate in astronomy in nineteen oh five. Even before finishing 52 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: that doctorate, Wegener's interests went outside of what you might 53 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,359 Speaker 1: think of when we say astronomy. He had studied Max 54 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: Planck's work on thermochemistry and thermodynamics, and some of the 55 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:33,079 Speaker 1: people he studied under for his doctorate were using planetary 56 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: astronomy as a way to study the Earth rather than 57 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: focusing on other planetary objects. He was also interested in 58 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: weather and meteorology, and after finishing his degree, he started 59 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:48,360 Speaker 1: working at the German Aeronautical Observatory in Lindenberg. His brother 60 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: worked there as well, and they used kites and balloons 61 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: to study the Earth's atmosphere and atmospheric phenomena. At one 62 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 1: point during this work, the Vegener brothers spent fifty two 63 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: hours aloft in a balloon, which set a world record. 64 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: Alfred Wegener was also part of the team that confirmed 65 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: the existence of the stratosphere. Wasn't a team he was running, 66 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: but he was involved in it. Waganer had been interested 67 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: in Greenland since he was young, and in nineteen oh 68 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: six he got the opportunity to go there as part 69 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: of the Danish Denmark expedition, which intended to map Greenland's 70 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 1: northeast coast. Wegener was the expedition's physicist and meteorologist, and 71 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:30,039 Speaker 1: his research involved more work with kites and balloons to 72 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: collect atmospheric data. He also got a lot of practical 73 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:37,479 Speaker 1: experience in polar exploration. This expedition made its way through 74 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 1: extremely inhospitable territory, so Wegener learned things like Arctic survival skills, 75 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: and how to handle a team of sled dogs. On 76 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 1: July tenth of nineteen oh seven, while they were on 77 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:52,599 Speaker 1: Cape Bismarck, Wegener and the team observed several water spouts. 78 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,800 Speaker 1: They took a lot of pictures and documented what they saw, 79 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: and this experience may have inspired Wegener's interest in tornadoes 80 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: and water spouts, which will come up again later in 81 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: his career. Wegener kept journals during this expedition, documenting his 82 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: experiments and their results, as well as the ordinary work 83 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,920 Speaker 1: that was associated with it, like setting up the equipment 84 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: and keeping it maintained and repaired, and he also wrote 85 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: about his own challenges as a member of the team. 86 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:22,800 Speaker 1: He had no experience in polar environments before this, and 87 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 1: his knowledge of Danish was limited. Unlike many of the 88 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 1: other scientists involved, he was also very early in his 89 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,119 Speaker 1: career and he hadn't really established a name for himself yet. 90 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:36,599 Speaker 1: This expedition achieved its objectives of mapping the northeast coast 91 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,839 Speaker 1: of Greenland, but it was also tragic. Several of its 92 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 1: primary members, including leader Ludwigmilius Erickson, died after being stranded 93 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:48,839 Speaker 1: when the sea ice broke up around them. Even so, 94 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:52,200 Speaker 1: before it was even over, Wegener was talking about where 95 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: he might go in the future, even considering an expedition 96 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: to Antarctica as a future project for himself. In nineteen 97 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: oh eight, after he returned from Greenland, Wegener moved to Marburg, 98 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: where he started working at the Physical Institute in Marburg. 99 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:09,800 Speaker 1: In nineteen oh nine. He also lectured on meteorology and 100 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: astronomy at the university there, and Wegener became particularly interested 101 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:18,240 Speaker 1: in atmospheric discontinuities, which are sudden, sharp changes in temperature 102 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: or pressure. For example, there are discontinuity services around the 103 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: boundaries of weather fronts and at the borders of atmospheric layers. 104 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:30,800 Speaker 1: Wegener wrote prolifically over the next three years, publishing more 105 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: than forty scientific papers and then editing the ones on 106 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 1: the subject into a book called Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere. 107 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,719 Speaker 1: This was a widely respected and referenced text on atmospheric 108 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:46,600 Speaker 1: thermodynamics for years, until it was ultimately replaced by a 109 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: later book on the subject that Wegener also wrote. In 110 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: nineteen ten, one of Wegener's colleagues brought an atlas into 111 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 1: their office that was Richard Andres Algemini handatlas. This was 112 00:06:57,080 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: one of the first atlases in Germany that included both 113 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: the coastlines of South America and Africa and the basymmetry data, 114 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: or information about the ocean's depths, that had been gathered 115 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: by the expedition aboard the HMS Challenger in the late 116 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: nineteenth century. So Wegener noticed something in this combination of 117 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: data that intrigued him. He noticed that the eastern coast 118 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 1: of South America looked like it would fit exactly against 119 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 1: the western coast of Africa. And this wasn't just at 120 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: the coastline at sea level. It was also part of 121 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: the underwater topography off of the visible coast. He wrote 122 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: a letter to Elsa Coppin, daughter of climatologist Vladimir Coppin. 123 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: Vladimir Coppin had advised Wegener in advance of the Denmark expedition, 124 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: and Alfred and Oas had started corresponding. Veganer wrote, quote, 125 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 1: doesn't the east coast of South America fit exactly against 126 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: the west coast of Africa as if they had once 127 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: been joined? This is an idea I'll have to pursue. 128 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 1: He didn't pursue it right away, though it seems to 129 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: have kind of slipped his mind until about a year 130 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: later when he read a newly published paper on paleogeography 131 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: that documented fossils that had been found on both sides 132 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:09,200 Speaker 1: of the Atlantic. That combined with Wegener's earlier study of 133 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: that atlas to put him on the path of formulating 134 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:14,560 Speaker 1: a theory of continental drift. And we will get to 135 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: that after a sponsor break. Alfred Wegener was not at 136 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 1: all the first person to notice that the eastern coast 137 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 1: of South America and the western coast of Africa looked 138 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: like they could fit together like puzzle pieces. I mean, 139 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:39,400 Speaker 1: this is an observation that children make the first time 140 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: they experience a globe or an atlis that shows all 141 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 1: of that. And people had been spotting that similarity starting 142 00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: as soon as there were maps showing both of those coasts. 143 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:54,080 Speaker 1: In fifteen ninety six, Dutch map maker Abraham Ortellius wrote 144 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:56,840 Speaker 1: that the Americas looked like they had been quote torn 145 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:00,560 Speaker 1: away from Europe and Africa by earthquakes and floods. Francis 146 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,959 Speaker 1: Bacon commented on it in his Nova Organum or True 147 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,320 Speaker 1: Suggestions for the Interpretation of Nature in sixteen twenty in 148 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 1: a passage on similarities found in the natural world. He wrote, 149 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:15,080 Speaker 1: quote similar instances are not to be neglected in the 150 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: greater portions of the world's confirmation, such as Africa and 151 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:21,880 Speaker 1: the Peruvian continent, which reaches to the Straits of Magellan, 152 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: both of which possess a similar isthmus and similar capes, 153 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: a circumstance not to be attributed to mere accident. By 154 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:34,360 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, naturalists that also started to document animals, plants, 155 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 1: and physical features that seemed to exist on both sides 156 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: of oceans in a way that seemed impossible or at 157 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: least really improvable, given that the ocean was there to 158 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 1: separate them. There were rock formations on one side of 159 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: the ocean that seemed to pick up again on the 160 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: other side. Mesosauris fossils were found in both Brazil and 161 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 1: South Africa, and there are freshwater trilobite fossils from the 162 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:02,679 Speaker 1: genus Para doxides that were found in both North America 163 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:07,480 Speaker 1: and Europe. Naturalists found living animals too, like lemurs which 164 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:12,559 Speaker 1: live in Southeast Africa, the island of Madagascar, and Southeast Asia. 165 00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:15,520 Speaker 1: Even though there's a lot of water separating all of those. 166 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:18,679 Speaker 1: There were also coal beds on both sides of the 167 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:21,400 Speaker 1: Atlantic and seemed to be a part of the same system. 168 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: And physical evidence of glaciers that had once existed in 169 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:28,720 Speaker 1: parts of the world now have tropical climates, and fossils 170 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: of tropical plants and areas that are now polar. The 171 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: list went on and on and on. So people started 172 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:38,120 Speaker 1: trying to come up with all kinds of possible explanations 173 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: for how all of this stuff came to be. So 174 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:44,319 Speaker 1: for the animal fossils and the living animals, maybe they 175 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,960 Speaker 1: swam really was one, but kind of briefly that was 176 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 1: easy to discount. It seemed incredibly unlikely that the animals 177 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: in question could have swum that far, or maybe, I 178 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:56,400 Speaker 1: don't know, clung to a floating log all the way 179 00:10:56,440 --> 00:11:01,080 Speaker 1: across the ocean. Maybe they swam. Explanation also didn't account 180 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:04,320 Speaker 1: for things like rock formations and glaciers that seemed to 181 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,680 Speaker 1: have existed in what seemed like the wrong place. Another 182 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,200 Speaker 1: popular idea was that at one time there had been 183 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:13,640 Speaker 1: land bridges connecting the continents, but that those had ultimately 184 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,520 Speaker 1: sunk into the ocean. This tied into another prevalent idea 185 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:20,520 Speaker 1: that the Earth had once been molten and was contracting 186 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 1: as it cooled and solidified. It was a little like 187 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:26,120 Speaker 1: the surface of a plum as it dries into a prune, 188 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:30,040 Speaker 1: which could explain the existence of both oceans and mountains. 189 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: That land bridge idea still had some problems, though, it 190 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:37,199 Speaker 1: didn't explain the rock formations that seemed to stop at 191 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: one coast and then pick up again on the other 192 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:42,560 Speaker 1: side of the ocean, unless maybe those formations had been 193 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:45,840 Speaker 1: part of these land bridges that were now underwater. But 194 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: then there also wasn't a clear answer to what could 195 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: have caused the land bridges to sink, if they had 196 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:56,079 Speaker 1: ever existed. In eighteen fifty eight, Antonio Snyder Pellegrini argued 197 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:59,520 Speaker 1: that maybe Africa and South America had been one continent 198 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:02,320 Speaker 1: at some point point in the past. He suggested that 199 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 1: the continents had been forced apart in the flood that 200 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:08,160 Speaker 1: is described in the biblical Book of Genesis. Then a 201 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:12,440 Speaker 1: few decades later, when radioactivity was discovered in eighteen ninety six, 202 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:16,320 Speaker 1: that raised more questions about this general idea that the 203 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: earth was molten and was just contracting as it cooled. 204 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 1: How could that be happening if there were radioactive materials 205 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:26,679 Speaker 1: within the Earth that were giving off heat. On December 206 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:30,439 Speaker 1: twenty ninth, nineteen oh eight, American geologist Frank B. Taylor 207 00:12:30,679 --> 00:12:34,320 Speaker 1: gave a presentation to the Geological Society of America in 208 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:37,040 Speaker 1: which he suggested that the continents were moving and had 209 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:40,320 Speaker 1: been pulled apart by lunar gravity. He thought that the 210 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: collisions of the continents had pushed mountains into being, and 211 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:46,520 Speaker 1: that the continence movement had also left deep tears in 212 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:49,800 Speaker 1: the oceans. He published a paper in nineteen ten, and 213 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: other papers followed. It is definitely possible that Wegener read 214 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:57,840 Speaker 1: Taylor's nineteen ten paper or one of the ones that followed, 215 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: and for a while the theory of continental drift was 216 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:05,000 Speaker 1: actually called the Tailor Veganer hypothesis. In nineteen thirty two, 217 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:07,240 Speaker 1: though Taylor said that his name should be dropped off 218 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 1: from the descriptor because other than the basic idea that 219 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:15,040 Speaker 1: the continents were moving, his ideas were really different from Veginer's. 220 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:18,600 Speaker 1: Here's what Veganer thought was going on. He thought that 221 00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 1: the planet was made from concentric layers of material, which 222 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: were denser the further down you go, and the outermost layer, 223 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:29,199 Speaker 1: with the continents on it was not contiguous. Oceans filled 224 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:32,440 Speaker 1: in any gaps. The continent layer was made of seal 225 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:36,960 Speaker 1: material that's largely silicon and aluminum, and the ocean floors 226 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:41,160 Speaker 1: were sema that's silicon and magnesium. Seal was less dense 227 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:44,080 Speaker 1: than sema, so the seal continents could float along the 228 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: sema ocean floor, kind of like icebergs float on the ocean. 229 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 1: Veginer thought that at some point, about two hundred million 230 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:54,440 Speaker 1: years ago, all the continents had been connected into one 231 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:58,199 Speaker 1: land mass that he called Pangaea, and then something had 232 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 1: broken them apart and allowed them to mindgrate around the Earth. 233 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:05,600 Speaker 1: He thought this motion explained how mountains formed. It wasn't 234 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:08,240 Speaker 1: that the Earth was cooling and shrinking like a prune, 235 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:10,959 Speaker 1: or that mountains were being pushed up by the force 236 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: of colliding continents. He thought they were formed by the 237 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:17,280 Speaker 1: resistance that the continents experienced as they were sort of 238 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:20,560 Speaker 1: pllowing through the ocean floor beneath them, sort of like 239 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:22,880 Speaker 1: the way a tablecloth wrinkles if you try to push 240 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: it across the table. Veginer also thought that islands were 241 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:29,760 Speaker 1: pieces that had broken off the continents as they were moving. 242 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:33,440 Speaker 1: Veganer was not entirely sure what was providing the energy 243 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:37,640 Speaker 1: needed for the continents to move. He proposed several possibilities, 244 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 1: and the one that he focused on the most was 245 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,080 Speaker 1: that it was some kind of energy related to irregularities 246 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:47,240 Speaker 1: in the planet's rotation on its axis. Wagner detailed all 247 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:50,640 Speaker 1: this in two papers published in nineteen eleven and nineteen twelve, 248 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: both titled The Origin of Continents. He cited evidence from 249 00:14:54,840 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: several different fields, including geology, paleontology, geophysics, and geotesy, and 250 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: on January sixth of nineteen twelve he spoke about these 251 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:07,880 Speaker 1: ideas before the Geological Association in Frankfurt, and then he 252 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:10,560 Speaker 1: presented on it at the Society for the Advancement of 253 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: Natural Science in Marburg, Germany a few days after that. 254 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:17,960 Speaker 1: This was just dramatically different from how most scientists understood 255 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 1: the world at the time, and to be clear, it's 256 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: really not how we understand it today either. But it 257 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:28,360 Speaker 1: also wasn't the only hypothesis out there. Other geologists had 258 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,480 Speaker 1: also put forth various ideas about how the Earth's continents 259 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:33,520 Speaker 1: might have been joined together at some point in the 260 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:36,960 Speaker 1: distant past. Basically, it was clear that the whole model 261 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: of the Earth as a molten object that was cooling 262 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: and contracting just wasn't correct, So a lot of scientists 263 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,680 Speaker 1: were trying to figure out what really was happening. Wegener 264 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,000 Speaker 1: had some supporters, or at least people who thought he 265 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:52,400 Speaker 1: might be onto something. These were especially people who had 266 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:55,720 Speaker 1: personally seen or already knew about some of the evidence 267 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:59,080 Speaker 1: that he had cited, But he also had plenty of detractors. 268 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:02,240 Speaker 1: Some of this was rooted in the details of his work. 269 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: For example, he said that Greenland was moving at about 270 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:08,800 Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty feet or thirty six meters a year. 271 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 1: That was an error, and it was easily disproved. It 272 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 1: also didn't seem like slight irregularities in the Earth's rotation 273 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: could have provided nearly enough energy to move entire continents, 274 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 1: especially if those continents were plowing their way through a 275 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,520 Speaker 1: less dense layer of the planet underneath them. Some of 276 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:31,240 Speaker 1: the people who disagreed with Wegener were particularly scathing about it. 277 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,800 Speaker 1: For example, doctor Rollin T. Chamberlain of the University of 278 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: Chicago said, quote Veganer's hypothesis in general is of the 279 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,120 Speaker 1: footloose type, in that it takes considerable liberty with our 280 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 1: globe and is less bound by restrictions or tied down 281 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: by awkward, ugly facts than most of its rival theories. 282 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 1: So this wasn't really a case of one man, Alfred 283 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 1: Wegener against the whole of science. Enough people thought he 284 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 1: was at least partially correct that they became known as 285 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: the mobilists, while people who disagreed were called the anti 286 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: mobilist or the fixists. This was not the end of 287 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:08,240 Speaker 1: Wegener's work on his continental drift theory, but he did 288 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:10,800 Speaker 1: keep working on lots of other stuff during his career, 289 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:13,000 Speaker 1: and we're going to talk a little bit more about 290 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:24,720 Speaker 1: that after we pause for a sponsor break. Alfred Wegener 291 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:28,320 Speaker 1: took another expedition to Greenland starting in nineteen twelve. This 292 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: was another treacherous expedition meant to cross and survey the 293 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:35,520 Speaker 1: Greenland ice sheet from east to west, including spending the 294 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: entire winter out there on the ice sheet. At one point, 295 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:42,879 Speaker 1: a glacier that the team was on unexpectedly calved, and 296 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:46,720 Speaker 1: Veganer wrote that they quote escaped death only by a miracle. 297 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:50,399 Speaker 1: Veginer and Elsa Coppin that we mentioned earlier had gotten 298 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:53,960 Speaker 1: engaged before that expedition, and they married after he returned 299 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,639 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirteen. They would eventually have three daughters together. 300 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 1: Ess was a translator, translating scientific works, including some by 301 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 1: her husband. She also published a biography of Alfred, including 302 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:09,240 Speaker 1: parts of his notes and journals after his death. Wegener's 303 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:12,040 Speaker 1: work as a scientist and a researcher was interrupted by 304 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,000 Speaker 1: World War One. He served in the German Army, first 305 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: as a lieutenant and then as a captain. He was 306 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:21,960 Speaker 1: wounded twice, once on August twenty third, nineteen fourteen, in Belgium, 307 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,359 Speaker 1: and then once again in France on October fourth of 308 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:28,520 Speaker 1: that same year. That second injury was a lot worse. 309 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:30,399 Speaker 1: He was shot in the neck and had to go 310 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 1: home to recover. He used that recovery time to write 311 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:37,600 Speaker 1: his book, The Origin of Continents and Oceans, which expanded 312 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 1: on his earlier ideas around continental drift. Once Wegener was 313 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:45,080 Speaker 1: sufficiently recovered, he returned to the army, this time serving 314 00:18:45,119 --> 00:18:48,560 Speaker 1: with the Field Weather Service as a meteorologist. This was 315 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:51,879 Speaker 1: not a particularly taxing assignment. He was stationed on the 316 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:54,679 Speaker 1: Western Front, which was a dangerous place to be, but 317 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:58,639 Speaker 1: his daily duties mostly involved making some routine weather observations, 318 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:02,240 Speaker 1: so he spent this time on study and research, writing 319 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 1: a paper called on the formation of Hoarfrost on horse corpses, 320 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:10,000 Speaker 1: as well as a book called Tornadoes and Waterspouts in Europe. 321 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:13,720 Speaker 1: This book pulled together information on two hundred and fifty 322 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:17,520 Speaker 1: eight reported tornadoes that had struck in Europe between fourteen 323 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:21,200 Speaker 1: fifty six and nineteen thirteen. Because he could only get 324 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 1: to one library to do his research because he was 325 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,640 Speaker 1: literally stationed at the Western Front during a war, most 326 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:30,760 Speaker 1: of the tornadoes in question were in Western Europe, reasonably 327 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,640 Speaker 1: near where he was stationed. This was the first Pan 328 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 1: European book on tornado climatology, and it was really thorough. 329 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,080 Speaker 1: His intent was not to speculate on the causes of 330 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:44,520 Speaker 1: tornadoes and waterspouts, which was not settled at that point. 331 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:47,200 Speaker 1: It was instead to pull together a wealth of data 332 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:49,960 Speaker 1: on how large the tornadoes were and when and where 333 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:53,159 Speaker 1: they struck and how they moved, along with other details 334 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: like what they smelled and sounded like and any electrical 335 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:00,680 Speaker 1: phenomena associated with them. On April third of nineteen sixteen, 336 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:03,879 Speaker 1: while Vegener was at home in Marburg for Easter, a 337 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 1: meteorite struck outside the nearby town of Treesa. Two professors 338 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:11,600 Speaker 1: from the University of Marbor got in touch with Wegener 339 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:14,479 Speaker 1: about trying to figure out where this meteorite had fallen. 340 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: So Wegener cross referenced newspaper accounts and eyewitness statements try 341 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:24,120 Speaker 1: to calculate its trajectory, eventually requesting some additional leave from 342 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:26,680 Speaker 1: the army to try to finish up this work. When 343 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,560 Speaker 1: the meteorite's remains were found on March fifth of nineteen seventeen, 344 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:33,160 Speaker 1: they were very close to the spot that he had predicted. 345 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:36,359 Speaker 1: Later in World War One, Wegener was transferred to the 346 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,399 Speaker 1: Eastern Front and then back to the Western Front. He 347 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:42,080 Speaker 1: kept working on his book on tornadoes, which came out 348 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:46,000 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventeen. Once the war was over, Weginar had 349 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:48,960 Speaker 1: trouble finding work at a university, and this seems to 350 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:51,679 Speaker 1: have been at least as much about economic conditions as 351 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,840 Speaker 1: it was about his controversial theories about how the earth worked. 352 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:58,159 Speaker 1: He and Elsa eventually moved in with her father, and 353 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,200 Speaker 1: Alfred went to work at the German Marine Weather Observatory, 354 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:04,159 Speaker 1: in a position that his father in law had previously held. 355 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,280 Speaker 1: Begener held his position for five years, and he did 356 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,680 Speaker 1: have teaching privileges at the university of Hamburg. In nineteen 357 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:14,680 Speaker 1: twenty one, Wegner published research on the causes of lunar craters. 358 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:18,359 Speaker 1: At the time, there were four primary hypotheses about what 359 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:21,359 Speaker 1: had caused the craters on the lunar surface. That they 360 00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:24,359 Speaker 1: were the remnants of some kind of bubbles that had collapsed, 361 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,560 Speaker 1: That they had been caused by tidal forces, that they 362 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 1: were volcanoes, or that they were the aftermath of meteorite impacts. 363 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:36,400 Speaker 1: Wegener used cement powder to simulate both the lunar surface 364 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:40,320 Speaker 1: and the meteorites, basically throwing little bits of cement powder 365 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: at a layer of cement powder with a teaspoon. Then 366 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:47,320 Speaker 1: he would carefully missed the surface of the simulated moon 367 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,359 Speaker 1: to set the powder. Once that was done, he would 368 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:53,720 Speaker 1: measure and document the craters that had been formed. In 369 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:56,760 Speaker 1: the pamphlet that he published on this subject, Wegener outlined 370 00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:01,120 Speaker 1: various arguments against the other three hypotheses before detailing how 371 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:05,399 Speaker 1: these simulations supported the idea that meteorite impacts had caused 372 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:08,879 Speaker 1: the creators on the moon. I love this so much, 373 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 1: honestly so do I. It's Alfred Wegener's crafty time that 374 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: is very scientifically grounded. I love it it's simultaneously very 375 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:23,680 Speaker 1: charming and really cool. It's ingenius. In nineteen twenty two, 376 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:26,680 Speaker 1: Wegener published another edition of his book on the Origins 377 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:30,159 Speaker 1: of Continents, and this one was translated into several languages. 378 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,119 Speaker 1: It was still a controversial work, but it was not 379 00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:37,320 Speaker 1: unanimously dismissed. Two years later, in nineteen twenty four, Vegener 380 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:40,440 Speaker 1: and his father in law published a book called Climates 381 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:44,280 Speaker 1: of the Geological Past. That same year, Begener became a 382 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 1: professor at the University of Grutz, where he was the 383 00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:50,760 Speaker 1: chair of the departments of Meteorology and Geophysics. He also 384 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:55,280 Speaker 1: published another expanded edition of his earlier work on continental drift, 385 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,120 Speaker 1: this one also called The Origin of Continents and Oceans. 386 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: By nineteen twenty six, theories on continental drift were well 387 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,240 Speaker 1: known on both sides of the Atlantic. In that year, 388 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:09,520 Speaker 1: the American Association of Petroleum Geologists held a symposium in 389 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,840 Speaker 1: New York City to discuss them. Wegener was not there, 390 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 1: and overall the symposium was very critical of him. When 391 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:19,080 Speaker 1: he wrote the next edition of his book on Continents 392 00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:22,000 Speaker 1: and Oceans, he tried to address at least some of 393 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:26,280 Speaker 1: their criticisms. In nineteen twenty eight, a tornado touched down 394 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:30,040 Speaker 1: near Gratz, and that rekindled Wegener's interest in that subject. 395 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,440 Speaker 1: He and Elsa walked the path that the tornado had followed. 396 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:37,160 Speaker 1: They took statements from eyewitnesses, and Wegener agreed to work 397 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,639 Speaker 1: with meteorologist Johannes Letzmann on a project to try to 398 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: determine the causes of tornadoes. The following year, Wegner published 399 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:48,080 Speaker 1: the final edition of his book on the Origins of 400 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:52,240 Speaker 1: Continents and Oceans, this one proposing six possible mechanisms for 401 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:56,439 Speaker 1: what might cause continental drift. As that happened, Wegener was 402 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,639 Speaker 1: planning another trip to Greenland. This time he planned a 403 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:02,040 Speaker 1: set up a weather station on the ice sheet where 404 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:05,639 Speaker 1: a team would overwinter for two years to systematically gather 405 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:09,639 Speaker 1: data about the polar climate. Wagner was almost fifty and 406 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:13,399 Speaker 1: he recruited several younger scientists for this expedition, hoping to 407 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,920 Speaker 1: make sure there would be a new generation of polar researchers. 408 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 1: This expedition really struggled from the start. The stock market 409 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:24,480 Speaker 1: crash of nineteen twenty nine affected the global economy, and 410 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:28,080 Speaker 1: their funding almost fell through When they got to Greenland 411 00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:31,680 Speaker 1: on April fifteenth of nineteen thirty, the harbor was impassibly 412 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:34,680 Speaker 1: iced over, and it stayed that way for two months. 413 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:39,080 Speaker 1: The expedition had nearly one hundred tons of supplies to unload, 414 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: and it was basically impossible for them to start doing 415 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:46,479 Speaker 1: so until July. Then they faced unusually bad weather and 416 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,480 Speaker 1: propeller sleds that did not work as they had hoped, 417 00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:51,920 Speaker 1: which kept them from being able to haul their equipment 418 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,200 Speaker 1: very well. They had planned to set up a camp 419 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:57,560 Speaker 1: called ice Mitta or mid Ice, part way across the continent, 420 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:02,400 Speaker 1: but as winter approached they were woeful leave behind schedule. Ideally, 421 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:04,919 Speaker 1: ice Mitta would have been totally set up and fully 422 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:08,359 Speaker 1: supplied before the weather became impassable, and the teams at 423 00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:10,840 Speaker 1: the mid Ice station and on the coast would stay 424 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:15,159 Speaker 1: where they were until spring. Instead, by September, the shelter 425 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:18,040 Speaker 1: for the mid Ice station and most of their supplies 426 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,200 Speaker 1: were still sitting at the harbor, but researchers Johannes Georgie 427 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,639 Speaker 1: and Ernt Sorge were at the station. Wegener and some 428 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,760 Speaker 1: of his colleagues were absolutely convinced that they if they 429 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:32,480 Speaker 1: did not get more supplies out to Aimanta. The two 430 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:36,359 Speaker 1: researchers there were not going to survive the winter. Wagener 431 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: led a relief expedition, which departed by sled on September 432 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:42,720 Speaker 1: twenty first. As they progressed across the ice sheet, though 433 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:46,399 Speaker 1: nearly everybody with them turned back because it was just 434 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:51,920 Speaker 1: too treacherous. Wegener, Rasmus Willemsen, who was innook, and meteorologist 435 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,240 Speaker 1: Fritz Low were the only ones who got all the 436 00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:57,520 Speaker 1: way to Ice Mitta, and they arrived there on October thirtieth. 437 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:01,000 Speaker 1: By the time they got there, Low was from extreme 438 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,560 Speaker 1: frostbite and his toes had to be amputated. They were 439 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 1: pretty surprised to find the Ismanta team in an ice 440 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:10,639 Speaker 1: cave with enough supplies that they hoped they would make 441 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:13,639 Speaker 1: it through the winter. They were actually doing some scientific 442 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:18,400 Speaker 1: study from this improvised research station in the ice cave. Basically, 443 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,560 Speaker 1: they seemed to be doing okay with two people, but 444 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,920 Speaker 1: they definitely did not have the supplies to sustain three 445 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:29,320 Speaker 1: more for the whole winter. So Vegener and Willemson decided 446 00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:32,440 Speaker 1: to head back to the coast, leaving Low behind to recuperate. 447 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:35,720 Speaker 1: Those two men left on November first, hoping that the 448 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: wind that they had been fighting on their way in 449 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 1: would help them on the way out, So the team 450 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:43,159 Speaker 1: at the coast really didn't have a way of knowing 451 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: any of this, and the team at ISIMTDA didn't have 452 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:49,000 Speaker 1: a way of knowing what happened. After Vegener and Villainson 453 00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 1: left the ice cave in April of nineteen thirty one, 454 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,680 Speaker 1: where there had been no word from the two men, 455 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:58,480 Speaker 1: people started searching for them. Kurt Wegener came to Greenland 456 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:00,119 Speaker 1: to take up his brother's spot at the head of 457 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:03,959 Speaker 1: the expedition. Alfred Wegener's body was found on May twelfth, 458 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:08,000 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty one, carefully laid out and stitched into sleeping 459 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:11,119 Speaker 1: bag covers. The spot was marked with a cairn and 460 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: a pair of cross Skisveganer's cause of death is unknown, 461 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:17,919 Speaker 1: but it could have been heart failure or possibly carbon 462 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: monoxide poisoning from a camp stove. Whatever the cause, it 463 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:25,000 Speaker 1: is clear that Rosmus Willemsen had survived Wegener and had 464 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:27,040 Speaker 1: tried to give him as thoughtful a burial as was 465 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 1: possible on an ice sheet, But Villamsen was never seen 466 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:34,119 Speaker 1: again and his body was never found. The team that 467 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:37,440 Speaker 1: found Wegener's body after this search surrounded it with ice 468 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,600 Speaker 1: blocks and put up a large iron cross. The German 469 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 1: government offered to mount an expedition to bring his body 470 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: back to Germany, but Vegener's wife, Elsa insisted that it 471 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:50,919 Speaker 1: be left where it was. Apparently she found the idea 472 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:54,120 Speaker 1: that someday, as the ice shifted and split, he might 473 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,200 Speaker 1: wind up floating at sea in an iceberg. She thought 474 00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:00,440 Speaker 1: that was a somewhat romantic and suitable and for him. 475 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:05,040 Speaker 1: After Wegener's death, some scientists continued to support his ideas 476 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:09,119 Speaker 1: of continental drift. British geologist Arthur Holmes worked out a 477 00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:12,240 Speaker 1: model that explained how the continents moved through convection in 478 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:15,800 Speaker 1: the Earth's molten layers, but that was controversial as well. 479 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:19,000 Speaker 1: That was a lot closer to how we understand it today. 480 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:23,920 Speaker 1: Without its most vocal proponent, the idea of continental drift 481 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,439 Speaker 1: mostly fell out of favor in most places, although it 482 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:30,160 Speaker 1: does seem to have been accepted by the Nazi government 483 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,399 Speaker 1: of Germany after Vegener's death, and it was sort of 484 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:37,640 Speaker 1: used as evidence of German innovation and modernity in Nazi propaganda. 485 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:41,560 Speaker 1: The idea that the continents were once connected by now 486 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: sunken land bridges became a lot more mainstream. Then in 487 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,840 Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties and sixties, a lot of research started 488 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:52,280 Speaker 1: backing up the basic idea of continental drift. A lot 489 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:56,040 Speaker 1: of it was connected to magnetism. In molten material, magnetic 490 00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: particles line up with the poles then stay in that 491 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:03,240 Speaker 1: position once the material cools and solidifies. In the nineteen fifties, 492 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:07,160 Speaker 1: paleomagnetic research suggested that Europe and North America had once 493 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:11,160 Speaker 1: been connected based on the way these magnetic materials were oriented. 494 00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 1: Maps of the ocean floor that were created starting in 495 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:17,720 Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties made it clear that the seafloor is 496 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:21,400 Speaker 1: not flat. There are mid ocean ridges that we now 497 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 1: know align with the edges of tectonic plates. Study of 498 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,200 Speaker 1: these ridges made it clear that they were both younger 499 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,200 Speaker 1: and thinner than other parts of the seafloor, and the 500 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:34,120 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties researchers discovered what looked like magnetic stripes on 501 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:38,160 Speaker 1: either sides of these ridges, corresponding to the shifts in 502 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:41,440 Speaker 1: the polarity of the Earth's magnetic field and that magnetic 503 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:45,040 Speaker 1: phenomenon that we talked about earlier. Also in the nineteen sixties, 504 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: the worldwide Standardized Seismograph Network made it possible to spot 505 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:53,480 Speaker 1: global patterns in when and where earthquakes occurred, which once 506 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,920 Speaker 1: again were connected to the movement of tectonic plates. Together, 507 00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:00,600 Speaker 1: these and other discoveries made it clear that some Wegener's 508 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:04,240 Speaker 1: ideas were right. The continents are on tectonic plates, and 509 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,719 Speaker 1: these plates slowly move, but his ideas for how and 510 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 1: why they move weren't really close to the mark. The 511 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:13,320 Speaker 1: accepted idea today is that the plates are pushed apart 512 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:16,920 Speaker 1: at the mid ocean ridges and in subduction zones. One 513 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:20,800 Speaker 1: plate slides under its neighbor, pushing material back down into 514 00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:23,760 Speaker 1: the Earth's mantle. Most of the time this movement is 515 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:27,239 Speaker 1: explained through convection in the molten mantle, but there is 516 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:30,800 Speaker 1: still some debate on exactly how this works. Yeah, there's 517 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:34,440 Speaker 1: a lot of convection, but then in terms of like, okay, 518 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 1: how specifically is the convection making this do That's where 519 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,680 Speaker 1: there's more debate still Today, there is a lunar crater 520 00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:45,840 Speaker 1: named for Alfred Wegener, as well as the Alfred Wegener 521 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 1: Institute for Polar and Marine Research, and various honors and 522 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,480 Speaker 1: awards bear his name as well. There is a theoretical 523 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:56,080 Speaker 1: explanation for ice crystal formation in clouds called the Bergeron 524 00:30:56,160 --> 00:31:00,960 Speaker 1: Fendysen Wegner process. Wegener's former home is also now Thevegner Museum. 525 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:03,600 Speaker 1: If you want to read a lot more about this 526 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:06,640 Speaker 1: dispute about continental drift and how the idea grew into 527 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:10,000 Speaker 1: plate tectonics, there is a four volume set called The 528 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,800 Speaker 1: Continental Drift Controversy. It's more than twenty two hundred pages long, 529 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,520 Speaker 1: so to be clear, it was not part of the 530 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:20,040 Speaker 1: research for this episode. I saw a lot of pages. Yeah, 531 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,880 Speaker 1: it exists. I wanted everyone to know in case you 532 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 1: really are so interested in finding out so so, so 533 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:30,960 Speaker 1: much more detail. I don't know how many podcast episodes 534 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 1: we would need to be able to create to have 535 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:38,000 Speaker 1: twenty two hundred pages of a book be part of 536 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:42,160 Speaker 1: the research. We'll just do a new podcast. It's nothing 537 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,400 Speaker 1: but us reading that book aloud. Sure it will get 538 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:55,520 Speaker 1: kajillions of listeners. Definitely. Thanks so much for joining us 539 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,680 Speaker 1: on this Saturday. Since this episode is out of the archive, 540 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:01,040 Speaker 1: if you heard an email address or a Facebook RL 541 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 1: or something similar over the course of the show, that 542 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:07,600 Speaker 1: could be obsolete now. Our current email address is History 543 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:12,280 Speaker 1: Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. You can find us all 544 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:16,120 Speaker 1: over social media at Missed Inhistory, and you can subscribe 545 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:20,360 Speaker 1: to our show on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, 546 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:26,040 Speaker 1: and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Stuff you Missed 547 00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:29,200 Speaker 1: in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 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