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| View Larger Image | Ending in Ice: The Revolutionary Idea and Tragic Expedition of Alfred Wegener
by Roger M. McCoy
| | List Price: | $35.00 | | Price: | $26.44 | | You Save: | $8.56 (24%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 256532 | | Studio: | Oxford University Press, USA | | | Binding: | Hardcover | | Number Of Pages: | 208 | | Publication Date: | June 22, 2006 | | Publisher: | Oxford University Press, USA |
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Product Description
An old truism holds that a scientific discovery has three stages: first, people deny it is true; then they deny it is important; finally, they credit the wrong person. Alfred Wegener's "discovery" of continental drift went through each stage with unusual drama. In 1915, when he published his theory that the world's continents had once come together in a single landmass before splitting apart and drifting to their current positions, the world's geologists denied and scorned it. The scientific establishment's rejection of continental drift and plate tectonic theory is a story told often and well. Yet, there is an untold side to Wegener's life: he and his famous father-in-law, Wladimir Koppen (a climatologist whose classification of climates is still in use), became fascinated with climates of the geologic past. In the early 20th century Wegener made four expeditions to the then-uncharted Greenland icecap to gather data about climate variations (Greenland ice-core sampling continues to this day). Ending in Ice is about Wegener's explorations of Greenland, blending the science of ice ages and Wegener's continental drift measurements with the story of Wegener's fatal expedition trying to bring desperately needed food and fuel to workers at the central Greenland ice station of Eismitte in 1930. Arctic exploration books with tragic endings have become all too common, but this book combines Wegener's fatal adventures in Greenland with the relevant science--now more important than ever as global climate change becomes movie-worthy ("The Day After Tomorrow"). |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 1 review)
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Kontinentalverschiebung = geopoetry? 
"Doesn't the east coast of South America fit exactly against the west coast of Africa, as if they had once been joined? This is an idea I'll have to pursue." So wrote Alfred Wegener in 1910 to his future wife.
Pursue the idea Wegener did, in four major books and a number of lectures. (See especially the fourth edition: The Origin of Continents and Oceans.) Wegener's thesis: fossil and geological evidence clearly showed the continents were once connected, the current theory was based on land bridges that sank into the ocean, these bridges would have had to float up again since they were denser than the ocean floors, and the only logical alternative was that the continents themselves had been joined and had since drifted apart.
Leading scientists were highly skeptical:
"Utter, damned rot!" "If we are to believe this hypothesis, we must forget everything we have learned in the last 70 years and start all over again." Anyone who "valued his reputation for scientific sanity" would never dare support such a theory. The American Petroleum Society held a conference to demolish the theory. The oceanic crust was too firm for the continents "simply to plow through".
Roger M. McCoy has written a wonderful biography describing Wegener's development of his theory of continental drift, and its triumphant acceptance 30 years after his death. McCoy also describes the accomplishments of Else Wegener in the years after Wegener's death (she died in 1992 at the age of 100). She wrote about her husband's work, including a book of his "diaries, letters and her own memories".
McCoy also describes Wegener's accomplishments in climatology and ice age studies, in particular his four expeditions to the Greenland icecap to gather data about climate variations. Wegener was a record-holding balloonist, and he pioneered the use of weather balloons to track air masses.
In 1912, his four-man expedition "escaped death only by a miracle" while climbing a suddenly calving glacier on the northeast coast of Greenland, then became the first to overwinter on the ice cap. The following spring, they made the longest crossing of the Greenland ice sheet, a traverse of 750 miles. His objective was scientific knowledge; he was the first to trace storm tracks over the ice cap.
On his fourth trip, Wegener led a large group of scientists and technicians to Greenland in 1930. Wegener planned to establish three observation posts at latitude 71 degrees North, one on the western edge of the ice, one on the eastern edge, and one at mid-ice. The expedition went badly from the beginning (McCoy's descriptions have a wonderfully suspenseful character), and the party was over two months late in establishing the mid-ice camp, "Eismitte," on July 30. Eismitte was 250 miles inland at an elevation of 9,850 feet. (The eastern station was established later, by a separate party that landed on the east coast.)
By mid-September, only a small portion of the supplies necessary for Eismitte had arrived. Wegener had written his brother about his "obligation to be a hero." On September 21 Wegener led a 15-dogsled run to relieve Eismitte. Bad weather resulted in the group covering only 38.5 miles in a week; Wegener wrote it was now "a matter of life and death" for his friends at Eismitte. Wegener and two companions continued on for another 32 days, and found that Georgi and Sorge, the two scientists stationed there, had been able to dig an ice cave for shelter and had enough supplies for the winter. Wegener's relief trip had been unnecessary.
Wegener "looked as fresh, happy and fit as if he had just been for a walk. He was fired with enthusiasm and ready to tackle anything." Rasmus Villumsen, the 22-year-old Greenlander who had accompanied them, was also in good shape. On November 1, the group celebrated Wegener's 50th birthday. Supplies were short so Wegener and Villumsen with the wind now at their backs set off to return to base camp. Neither man survived the journey.
McCoy tells the entire story of Wegener's life in clear language. One cannot help but be impressed with Wegener's dedication to science and to his wonderful accomplishments. Alfred Wegener has found the biographer he deserves.
Robert C. Ross 2008
June 27, 2008 | |
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