When Continental Drift Was Considered Pseudoscience

Lasrick writes "I Love this article in Smithsonian by Richard Conniff. One of my geology professors was in grad school when the theories for plate tectonics, seafloor spreading, etc., were introduced; he remembered how most of his professors denounced them as ridiculous. The article chronicles the introduction of continental drift theory, starting a century ago with Alfred Wegener. From the article: 'It was a century ago this spring that a little-known German meteorologist named Alfred Wegener proposed that the continents had once been massed together in a single supercontinent and then gradually drifted apart. He was, of course, right. Continental drift and the more recent science of plate tectonics are now the bedrock of modern geology, helping to answer vital questions like where to find precious oil and mineral deposits, and how to keep San Francisco upright. But in Wegener’s day, geological thinking stood firmly on a solid earth where continents and oceans were permanent features.'"

Comments

Ambiguous references to persons

[sideslash]

"I Love this article in Smithsonian by Richard Conniff. One of my geology professors was in grad school when [...]

It's always the little details that insufferably nag you. For example, after reading this poorly written (or edited) summary, I will always be haunted by the ambiguity of whether Richard Conniff was actually the submitter's geology professor, or if those two references without any explicit tying together are just that. I will carry this burden to my grave.

Re:Ambiguous references to persons

[SlithyMagister]

That was a period after Connif, not a comma

And a geological period at that.

Re:Heat and movement

[NemoinSpace]

economic warp speed

? sounds like a new function describing our national debt.

Re:Heat and movement

[tverbeek]

Volcanoes were invented shortly after World War 2, following the demonstration by the crew of the Manhattan Project that it was possible to melt rock. They were so impressive that they were then retroactively added to various historical documents around the world, thru a combination of warp drive and continental drift.

Re:theories

[idontgno]

Not that the other chemistry teacher was much better. Replace "Remember the Titans" with self-written poetry readings.

OMG. You got a Vogon chemistry teacher. My hearty congratulations and deeply-felt respect on surviving that captivity.