1-157-398 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Alfred Lothar Wegener, German geophysicist and meteorologist. Wegener (1880-1930) formulated the theory of Continental Drift (Wegener Hypothesis), published in 1915. Wegener postulated that the continents had not always occupied their present locations, but had moved across the Earth's surface over geological history. Wegener's theory was not widely accepted until the 1950s, but is today explained by the theory of Plate Tectonics.