The Discoveries of Alfred Wegener

706 Words2 Pages

Alfred Wegener was the youngest of five children, and was born on November 1, 1880. His father was an evangelical minister who ran an orphanage. Wegener grew up in Berlin Germany, and as a young man always dreamed of exploring Greenland, and had an interest in meteorology at a very young age. Alfred attended Friedrich Wilhelms University where he obtained his degree, and later his Doctorates in Astronomy, but after he graduated, most of his focus was on the study of meteorology. In 1905 Alfred went to work with his older brother at the Aeronautischen Observatorium Lindenberg in Beeskow. The two brothers would be the first ones to pioneer the use of weather balloons to investigate air masses. Alfred Wegener was a meteorologist and explorer who was a pioneer in the studies of not only meteorology, astronomy, and polar exploration, but he also came up with the concept of the Continental Drift Theory.
During his lifetime, Alfred was probably known best for his studies in meteorology and his explorations in Greenland. He participated in four separate Greenland expeditions where he and the team that he was with were charged with the duty of studying the last unknown portion of the Greenland coastal area. After returning home from his first expedition in 1908, Wegener obtained employment with the University of Marburg where he taught Meteorology, Applied Astronomy, and Physics. While teaching at the University of Marburg, he wrote Thermodynamik der Atmosphare (Therodynamics of the Atmosphere). In this text book he included many of the results that were obtained in the first Greenland expedition. This book became the first textbook in the study of meteorology.
Alfred Wegener would go on 3 more Greenland expeditions in his life...

... middle of paper ...

...misphere. Evidence obtained from fossils in modern day laboratories are much more accurate, and only add to the possibility that Wegener’s theory was indeed correct. While during his lifetime, he was primarily known for his work in meteorology and polar exploration, it is his Continental Drift Theory that will make him remembered for all time.

Works Cited

Hoffman, P. F. (2012). The Tooth of Time: Alfred Wegener. Geoscience Canada, 39(3), 102-111.
CHESTER, R. (2008). Chapter 6: CONTINENTAL DRIFT: A THEORY WITHOUT A CAUSE. In , Furnace of Creation Cradle of Destruction: A Journey to the Birthplace of Earthquakes, Volcanoes, & Tsunamis (p. 86). American Management Association International.
Biography of Alfred Wegener. (n.d.). About.com Geography. Retrieved February 19, 2014, from http://geography.about.com/od/historyofgeography/a/Biography-Of-Alfred-Wegener.htm

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