1922: Wegener's Theories

In the Autumn 1922 issue of 'The Geographical Teacher' there was an article by Jon I Platt called "The Displacement of Continents - The Wegener Theory" which introduced readers to the ideas of Professor Alfred Wegener, Director of the German Oceanographical Survey. His theory had been published in 1915, but Platt says that it was "only in the last few months" that British scientists had given their attention to it.


This is a great insight into the changing thinking behind this theory at a time when it was by no means accepted by all. Some scientists found discrepancies between what Wegener suggested might be the case and what they had observed on a more local scale (although at this stage, the work was only available in German as a translation had yet to be done)



It ends with a quote from Philip Lake... "He has suggested much, he has proved nothing."



Image source: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/nov1/happy-birthday-alfred-wegener/
Used under Fair Use.

Reference
Platt, John I. “The Displacement of Continents—The Wegener Theory.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 11, no. 6, 1922, pp. 367–369. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40556630.