Alfred Wegener

Hello! My name is Alfred Wegener. I was born in a city called Berlin, Germany, on November 1st, 1880. Even when I was a little boy, I loved looking at maps of the world. I would trace the shapes of the big pieces of land, called continents, with my finger. I was also fascinated by science and loved exploring the outdoors. I dreamed of visiting faraway, icy places like Greenland.

When I grew up, I became a scientist who studied the weather and the stars. But I never stopped looking at my world maps! One day in 1910, I noticed something very curious. The edge of South America looked like it could fit perfectly against the edge of Africa, just like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. I wondered, what if all the continents were once connected? I looked closer and saw that other continents seemed to fit together, too!

This gave me a giant idea! I thought that millions of years ago, all the continents were joined together in one huge supercontinent. I gave it a name: Pangaea, which means 'all lands.' I imagined this giant piece of land slowly breaking apart and the pieces drifting away to where they are today. To test my idea, I studied rocks and fossils. I found fossils of the same ancient plants and animals on continents that are now separated by huge oceans! In 1915, I wrote a book about my idea, which I called 'continental drift.'

At first, many other scientists didn't like my idea of continental drift. They would ask, 'How could a whole continent possibly move?' They thought it was impossible. It made me sad that they didn't believe me, but I knew my observations were important. I kept exploring and gathering more clues, especially on my expeditions to the icy landscapes of Greenland, hoping to find more proof for my theory.

My last trip to Greenland was in 1930. I lived to be 50 years old. For a long time after, my idea was mostly forgotten. But many years later, other scientists found new clues from the bottom of the ocean that proved I was right! They discovered that the Earth's surface is made of giant moving plates. My idea of continental drift helped them understand this. Today, every student learns how the continents move, and it all started with me looking at a map and seeing a great big puzzle.