The Continental Drift Controversy

by Henry R. Frankel

Resolution of the sixty year debate over continental drift, culminating in the triumph of plate tectonics, changed the very fabric of Earth Science. This four -volume treatise on the continental drift controversy is the first complete history of the origin, debate and gradual acceptance of this revolutionary theory. Based on extensive interviews, archival papers and original works, Frankel weaves together the lives and work of the scientists involved, producing an accessible narrative for scientists and non-scientists alike. This first volume covers the period in the early 1900s when Wegener first pointed out that the Earth's major landmasses could be fitted together like a jigsaw and went on to propose that the continents had once been joined together in a single landmass, which he named Pangaea. It describes the reception of Wegener's theory as it splintered into sub-controversies and geoscientists became divided between the 'fixists' and 'mobilists'.
Other volumes in this set: Volume 2: Paleomagnetism and Confirmation of Drift Volume 3: Introduction of Seafloor Spreading Volume 4: Evolution into Plate Tectonics 4 Volume Set

625 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2012

Reviews

[David Spanagel]

This first volume (of four) provides a near-exhaustive look at the fixism/mobilism debate that most people know of as the Continental Drift theory of the early 20th century. I really appreciate the way Frankel provides primary source illustrations of every person'd (sometimes shifting, sometimes not) viewpoint over time.

[Bob Gustafson]

The title is apt and this book is thorough. Sometimes, I think that it is thoroughly boring, but then comes a biographical sketch that relieves the boredom, a little.

Academically, this book is excellent. It cites the thoughts of a large number of scientists, with extensive quotes (including many scientists that Wikipedia doesn't know about), very methodically, but that is all it does.

There is nothing else left for me to write.