Who was Alfred Wegener? Trivia Quiz

Answer: A German meteorologist

Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) started his career as an astronomer, but turned to meteorology later on. He participated in several expeditions to study the climate, flying in hot air balloons.

Answer: Proposing the theory of continental drift

He was not the first scientist to imagine that the continents could drift, but he was the first to compile extensive definitive evidence, such as the patterns of the West African and Eastern South American coasts, that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. For this he is called the 'father of continental drift'.

Answer: He was derided and discredited

His drift hypothesis was scorned because, not being a trained geologist, he had trodden on the 'wrong' turf. Geologists were jealous and thought he was not qualified to devise such a bold and audacious theory, especially as it went against the conventional wisdom of the time.

Answer: In the 1960s

Sadly, the drift hypothesis was was not generally accepted until after his death.
It was discussed at conferences in 1963 and 1966, when new research made it acceptable to the world of science, and was transformed into the new concept of plate tectonics.

Answer: Tragically, on an expedition to Greenland

He died tragically in Greenland during a blinding snow blizzard. Together with a native Greenlander, Rasmus Villumsen, they got lost and both perished.

Answer: the climate

The climate of Greenland holds importance for Europe. A persistent low pressure system in the North Atlantic called the Icelandic Low influences European weather and is recognized as such by present day meteorologists.

Answer: Seven

The supercontinent of Pangaea broke up into the present pattern of six major land masses and several minor ones during a period of 240 million years, covering the Permian, Triassic, and Cretaceous eras to the present.

Answer: By tectonic plates colliding

Examples of mountains formed by colliding plates are the Alps, where Italy penetrated into Southern Europe, and India into Southern Asia, and pushed up the edge of the plates.

Answer: 1.6 inches

This is today's calculation of continental movement. Wegener calculated that it was much higher.

Answer: The 2 plates into which Pangaea split.

In the Triassic Era, 208 million years ago, Pangaea split into two supercontinents, Laurasia in the Northern hemisphere and Gondwanaland in the Southern hemisphere, separated by the Tethys Sea.