Alfred Wegener
German climatologist and geophysicist (1880–1930)
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Key Takeaways
- Alfred Lothar Wegener ( ; German: [ˈʔalfʁeːt ˈveːɡənɐ] ; 1 November 1880 – November 1930) was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher.
- Wegener was involved in several expeditions to Greenland to study polar air circulation before the existence of the jet stream was accepted.
- Biography Early life and education Alfred Wegener was born in Berlin on 1 November 1880, the youngest of five children, to Richard Wegener and his wife Anna.
- In 1886 his family purchased a former manor house near Rheinsberg, which they used as a vacation home.
Alfred Lothar Wegener (; German: [ˈʔalfʁeːt ˈveːɡənɐ]; 1 November 1880 – November 1930) was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher.
During his lifetime he was primarily known for his achievements in meteorology and as a pioneer of polar research, but 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 (German: Kontinentalverschiebung).
His hypothesis was not accepted by mainstream geology until the 1950s, when numerous discoveries such as palaeomagnetism provided strong support for continental drift, and thereby a substantial basis for today's model of plate tectonics.
Wegener was involved in several expeditions to Greenland to study polar air circulation before the existence of the jet stream was accepted. Expedition participants made many meteorological observations and were the first to overwinter on the inland Greenland ice sheet and the first to bore ice cores on a moving Arctic glacier.
Biography
Early life and education
Alfred Wegener was born in Berlin on 1 November 1880, the youngest of five children, to Richard Wegener and his wife Anna. His father was a theologian and teacher of classical languages at the Joachimsthalschen Gymnasium and Berlinisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster. In 1886 his family purchased a former manor house near Rheinsberg, which they used as a vacation home.
Wegener attended school at the Köllnische Gymnasium on Wallstrasse in Berlin, completing his Abitur in 1899, graduating as the best in his class.
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