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How Plate Tectonics was Discovered [An Answer to ":Settled Science" of 1970 from BBC]
British Broadcasting Company ^ | 1970 | BBC

Posted on 05/26/2022 3:21:32 PM PDT by SES1066

In the 1960-70s, every geology textbook was rewritten, as the previous verities were DESTROYED! Alfred Wegner (1880-1930) was, posthumously, proven correct, in the face of the academia that scoffed at him. What was needed, was the mechanism, that the technology of WW2 provided.

(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...


TOPICS: Education; History; Outdoors; Science
KEYWORDS: alfredwegener; continentaldrift; geology; platetectonics; science; tectonics; wegner
As an early exposition, this BBC 1970 programme was impressive in its intellect and exposition of how the (unsaid) verities of old geology (geographic topology) were being overthrown by modern technology. Geo-magnetics, submarine geology, paleontology and others give a logical theory of why the continents did/do drift from separate to clumped over millions of years!

Well worth the time to see a 52 year old science program. Yes, it does have a scientist postulating an expanding earth, but that is the fun of it! A popular viewing of an 'ology' being forced into new verities!

A C Clarke's 1st Law: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, they are almost certainly right. When they state that something is impossible, they are very probably wrong."

1 posted on 05/26/2022 3:21:32 PM PDT by SES1066
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To: SES1066

I don’t believe that Arthur C. Clarke would have used pronouns in that politically correct but grammatically reprehensible way.


2 posted on 05/26/2022 3:29:46 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: SES1066

Just wondering, do they mention Marie Tharp? Her work paved the way for plate tectonics to be recognized by science, eventhough Bruce Heezen took credit for it.


3 posted on 05/26/2022 3:49:45 PM PDT by GunHoardingCapitalist (The cake is a lie!)
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To: SES1066

Dr. Tanya Atwater was a big player in early plate tectonic theories.


4 posted on 05/26/2022 4:32:19 PM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: SES1066
My High School science text did not mention plate tectonics. It was an incredible revelation when I learned about it in college.

Same book openly mocked catastrophism, which turns out to have been mostly right.

5 posted on 05/26/2022 4:48:07 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: SunkenCiv

Ping.


6 posted on 05/26/2022 4:48:54 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: SES1066

I learned of the theory of plate tectonics in high school, 1962. It seemed fairly obvious then, and has since been largely confirmed.


7 posted on 05/26/2022 5:28:07 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: hinckley buzzard

The professor in a college geology course I took in the early 1950s scoffed at Wegener.


8 posted on 05/26/2022 6:22:30 PM PDT by Hiddigeigei ("Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish," said Dionysus - Euripides)
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To: SES1066

Fact-rich and presented in an elegantly simple fashion. What a rare find!


9 posted on 05/26/2022 6:50:05 PM PDT by Paal Gulli
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To: hinckley buzzard

All you have to do is look a world map.
See the world over time. 0 to 750 million years ago.

Change the time at the top of the page. You can also drag the globe around with your mouse. The North American continent did not exist for much of the time.
https://dinosaurpictures.org/ancient-earth#400


10 posted on 05/26/2022 8:49:51 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: SES1066

Watch later.


11 posted on 05/26/2022 9:09:47 PM PDT by NetAddicted (Just looking)
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To: colorado tanker
The "plate tectonics revolution" didn't hit until the 1960s, and is really just warmed-over "continental drift", a term that has been deprecated the same way the web standards have deprecated TABLE and FORM, but both are still in use. I'm pretty sure I learned about it outside K-12, probably via magazines, but a cousin of mom's had been a teacher for a while and had a sort of diorama about PT in his basement.

12 posted on 05/27/2022 6:56:47 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (The Demagogic Party is a collection of violent, rival street gangs.)
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To: SES1066

“Alfred Wegner” s/b “Alfred Wegener” btw.


13 posted on 05/27/2022 6:58:11 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (The Demagogic Party is a collection of violent, rival street gangs.)
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To: SunkenCiv
“Alfred Wegner” s/b “Alfred Wegener” btw.

Thank you. I try to stay accurate but that is one that got by me.

He is a real hero in life as well as science, given his death in a life-saving effort. I'd like to think that, had he lived, he should have had Nobel Laureate in his CV, but like Hubble, it also might not have happened.

I was impressed by this BBC presentation and thankful for the poster, " Earth and Space Sciences X", in finding it. Such a good presentation that avoided a lot of the 'talk down' tendencies that seem all too prevalent.

14 posted on 05/27/2022 7:25:01 AM PDT by SES1066 (More & more it looks like Brandon's best decision was Kamala! UGH!)
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To: Hiddigeigei

“The professor in a college geology course I took in the early 1950s scoffed at Wegener.”

i had an 8th grade science teacher come completely unglued wuhn i suggested that africa and south america looked like they had fitted together at some point in the past ... she literally started ranting that that was just a coincidence and there was zero “scientific” evidence to support such a conclusion ....

it was one of the most valuable lessons of my life in public school because i thought her reaction was WAY out of line for such a simple observation [an older me would realize that “the lady doth protest too much, methinks”], and as consequence i was no longer wowed by the authority of my public school teachers and begin to think critically about everything they claimed ... and i’ve remained a critical thinker to this day ...


15 posted on 06/10/2022 9:58:19 PM PDT by catnipman (In a post-covid world, ALL "science" is now political science: stolen elections have consequences)
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