On this day 145 years ago, on November 1, 1880 (September 29, 1880 lunar calendar), the "father of the theory of continental drift" Wegener was born. Alfred Lothar Wegener was a German meteorologist and geophysicist, born in Berlin on November 1, 1880, and died while exploring the ice sheet in Greenland in November 1930. He is known as the "father of the theory of continental drift". Life resume From a young age, he liked fantasy and adventure. As a child, he loved to read the stories of explorers. The famous British explorer John Franklin became his idol. In order to prepare for future expeditions, he studied meteorology. In 1905, at the age of 25, Wegener received a doctorate in meteorology. In 1906, he finally realized the lofty ideals of his boyhood and joined the famous Danish expedition to Greenland to engage in meteorological and glacier surveys. Wegener was born in Berlin, graduated from Humboldt University in Berlin, and was born in Berlin, Germany on November 1, 1880. In 1905, he received a doctorate in astronomy from Humboldt University in Berlin. From 1906 to 1908, he participated in the Danish expedition to Greenland. Expedition to northern Greenland. After returning from the expedition in 1908, he took a job at the University of Mabel, sorting out a large amount of data collected by the expedition until the outbreak of the First World War (August 1914-November 1918). In 1910, he accidentally flipped through the world map during his illness and came up with the idea of the continental drift hypothesis. In June 1912, the continental drift hypothesis was proposed at the Frankfurt Geological Society. In 1912, he participated in the Koch-Greenberg expedition (the information of the expedition is unknown) and crossed the Greenland ice sheet. Koch was a research representative in the early days of polar glaciers. The expedition lasted for half a year. In 1913, he married Els, daughter of Cobain (climatologist). In 1915, he published "The Origin of Sea and Land". In 1919, he was hired as a professor at the University of Hamburg. In 1924, he was hired as a professor at the University of Graz. In 1928, he planned another Greenland expedition with Koch, but Koch died that year. In 1929, he embarked on the third Greenland expedition with Johannes Georges, Friesroy, and Erstersolg, and established a research station. On April 1, 1930, he took the "Sailfish" to Greenland. On October 30, 1930, he arrived at the Esmet camp to deliver supplies. On November 1, 1930, he returned to the base after his 50th birthday in the camp and died on the way. In May 1931, Wegener's brother Kurt (professor at the University of Hamburg) found Wegener's body. Continental Drift Theory The continental drift hypothesis is the theory that explains the movement of the earth's crust and the distribution and evolution of sea and land. Large-scale horizontal movement of continents between each other and between continents relative to the ocean basin, called continental drift. Continental drift theory holds that all the continents on earth were once a unified giant continental mass before the Mesozoic era, called Pangaea or United Palaea. The Mesozoic era began to divide and drift, gradually reaching its current position. The dynamic mechanism of continental drift is related to two components of the earth's rotation: the tidal force drifting westward and the depolarizing force pointing towards the equator. Lighter silica-alumina landmasses float on top of the heavier viscous silica-magnesium layer. Due to the action of tidal and depolarizing forces, the pan-continent ruptures and separates from the silica-magnesium layer, and undergoes a large-scale horizontal drift westward and towards the equator, and moves nearby. Social Evaluation Thirty years after Wegener's death, the theory of plate tectonics has swept the world, and people have finally admitted the correctness of the theory of continental drift. It can be seen from this that a correct theory is often rejected as a mistake or rejected as an anti-religious view in its early stages, and accepted as a creed in its later stages. But in any case, what people still remember about Wegener is not his cold reception during his lifetime and the excitement after his death, but his scientific spirit of seeking truth, facing facts squarely, having the courage to explore and sacrificing himself throughout his life.