Waubonsee Community College

Alfred Wegener, science, exploration, and the theory of continental drift, Mott T. Greene

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

individual biography

mapsillustrations

index present

non fiction

Alfred Wegener

bibliography

893721595

Mott T. Greene

science, exploration, and the theory of continental drift

"The author of the theory of continental drift - the direct ancestor of the modern theory of plate tectonics and one of the key scientific concepts of the past century - Wegener also made major contributions to geology, geophysics, astronomy, geodesy, atmospheric physics, meteorology, and glaciology. Remarkably, he completed this pathbreaking work while grappling variously with financial difficulty, war, economic depression, scientific isolation, illness, and injury. He ultimately died of overexertion on a journey to probe the Greenland icecap and calculate its rate of drift. Greene places Wegener{u2019}s upbringing and theoretical advances in earth science in the context of his brilliantly eclectic career, bringing Wegener to life by analyzing his published scientific work, delving into all of his surviving letters and journals, and tracing both his passionate commitment to science and his thrilling experiences as a polar explorer, a military officer during World War I, and a world-record{u2013}setting balloonist."--From publisher description

1. The boy : Berlin and Brandenburg, 1880-1899 -- 2. The student : Berlin-Heidelberg-Innsbruck-Berlin, 1899-1901 -- 3. The astronomer : Berlin, 1901-1904 -- 4. The aerologist : Lindenberg, 1905-1906 -- 5. The polar meteorologist : Greenland, 1906 -- 6. The Arctic explorer. 1, Greenland, 1907-1908 -- 7. The atmospheric physicist. 1, Berlin and Marburg, 1908-1910 -- 8. The atmospheric physicist. 2, Marburg, 1910 -- 9. At a crossroads : Marburg, 1911 -- 10. The theorist of continental drift. 1, Marburg, December 1911-February 1912 -- 11. The theorist of continental drift. 2, Marburg, February-April 1912 -- 12. The Arctic explorer. 2, Greenland, 1912-1913 -- 13. The soldier : Marburg and "the field," 1913-1915 -- 14. The meteorologist : "in the field," 1916-1918 -- 15. The geophysicist : Hamburg, 1919-1920 -- 16. From geophysicist to climatologist : Hamburg, 1920-1922 -- 17. The paleoclimatologist : Hamburg, 1922-1924 -- 18. The professor : Graz, 1924-1928 -- 19. Theorist and Arctic explorer : Graz and Greenland, 1928-1929 -- 20. The expedition leader : Graz and Greenland, 1929-1930 -- Epilogue