On 6 January 1912 the German meteorologist and polar explorer Alfred Wegener presented his hypothesis of continental drift to the Geological Association in Frankfurt. He noted that the coasts of South America and Africa fit like puzzle pieces, and that identical fossils, rocks and mountain ranges are found on opposite sides of the Atlantic. In 1915 he published The Origin of Continents and Oceans, describing a single supercontinent, Pangaea. Most geologists rejected it because Wegener could offer no mechanism. He died on the Greenland ice cap in 1930, long before seafloor spreading vindicated him.
Before and after
- 1912Construction of Atatürk Airport
- 1912Rise of vorticism
- 1912Henrietta Leavitt finds the period-luminosity law
- 1912The Piltdown Man is announced
- 6 January 1912Alfred Wegener proposes continental drift
- 28 January 1912Birth of Jackson Pollock
- 1 March 1912Founding of World Tennis
- 23 March 1912Birth of Wernher von Braun
- 27 March 1912Birth of James Callaghan
More in Earth & climate
- 17 February 1793Earthquake in Sanriku,Rikuzen,Rikuchu, Japan
- 20 November 1822Earthquake in Valparaiso, Quillota, Concon, Aconcagua, Chile
- 16 February 1861Earthquake in Lagundi, Simuk, Tello I, Indonesia
- 10 October 1886Establishment of Yoho National Park
- 19001900 becomes the warmest year on record
- 8 September 1900The Galveston hurricane
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.