The Plate Tectonics Revolution was the scientific and cultural change which developed from the acceptance of the

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...

theory. The event was a

paradigm shift A paradigm shift, a concept brought into the common lexicon by the American physicist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn, is a fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline. Even though Kuhn restricted t ...

and scientific revolution. By 1967 most scientists in geology accepted the theory of plate tectonics. The root of this was

Alfred Wegener Alfred Lothar Wegener (; ; 1 November 1880 – November 1930) was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher. During his lifetime he was primarily known for his achievements in meteorology and a ...

's 1912 publication of his theory of

continental drift Continental drift is the hypothesis that the Earth's continents have moved over geologic time relative to each other, thus appearing to have "drifted" across the ocean bed. The idea of continental drift has been subsumed into the science of pla ...

, which was a controversy in the field through the 1950s. At that point scientists introduced new evidence in a new way, replacing the idea of continental drift with instead a theory of plate tectonics. The acceptance of this theory brought scientific and cultural change which commentators called the "Plate Tectonics Revolution".

Response

In 1975 a paper said that "plate tectonics" gained general acceptance in its field in 1968 and called that acceptance a revolution. One scientist said that the Plate Tectonics Revolution brought excitement among scientists in the field in the 1960s. Publications in generations after the event reflected on how the Plate Tectonics Revolution was an early example of

data science Data science is an interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract or extrapolate knowledge and insights from noisy, structured and unstructured data, and apply knowledge from data across a br ...

. One commentator claimed that the plate tectonics theory became popular and established a revolution in culture even before scientists could confirm some of the claims for which evidence was lacking. There are claims that science in Russia was a significant contribution to the Plate Tectonics Revolution, but Western bias against Russia has blocked recognition of their contributions.

List of revolutionaries

Émile Argand Émile Argand (6 January 1879 – 14 September 1940) was a Swiss geologist. He was born in Eaux-Vives near Geneva. He attended vocational school in Geneva then worked as a draftsman. He studied anatomy in Paris, but gave up medicine to pursue his ...

Roberto Mantovani Roberto Mantovani (25 March 1854 – 10 January 1933), was an Italian geologist and violinist. He proposed an early model of continental drift in which a single continent broke up and the continents were displaced by thermal expansion and volca ...

Arthur Holmes Arthur Holmes (14 January 1890 – 20 September 1965) was an English geologist who made two major contributions to the understanding of geology. He pioneered the use of radiometric dating of minerals, and was the first earth scientist to grasp ...

Felix Andries Vening Meinesz Felix Andries Vening Meinesz (30 July 1887 – 10 August 1966) was a Dutch geophysicist and geodesist. He is known for his invention of a precise method for measuring gravity (gravimetry). Thanks to his invention, it became possible to measure g ...

Samuel Warren Carey Samuel Warren Carey Order of Australia, AO (1 November 1911, in Campbelltown, New South Wales, Campbelltown – 20 March 2002, in Hobart) was an Australian geologist and a professor at the University of Tasmania. He was an early advocate of ...

Robert R. Coats Robert Roy Coats (1910–1995) was an American geologist known for his studies of the Aleutian Islands and his exhaustive report of Elko County, Nevada. He was born in Toronto, Canada, and grew up in Marshalltown, Iowa and Seattle, Washington. He ...

Edward Bullard Sir Edward Crisp Bullard FRS (21 September 1907 – 3 April 1980) was a British geophysicist who is considered, along with Maurice Ewing, to have founded the discipline of marine geophysics. He developed the theory of the geodynamo, pioneered ...

W. Jason Morgan William Jason Morgan (born October 10, 1935) is an American geophysicist who has made seminal contributions to the theory of plate tectonics and geodynamics. He retired as the Knox Taylor Professor emeritus of geology and professor of geoscienc ...

John Tuzo Wilson John Tuzo Wilson (October 24, 1908 – April 15, 1993) was a Canadian geophysicist and geologist who achieved worldwide acclaim for his contributions to the theory of plate tectonics. ''Plate tectonics'' is the scientific theory that the rigi ...

J Harlen Bretz J Harlen Bretz (2 September 1882 – 3 February 1981) was an American geologist, best known for his research that led to the acceptance of the Missoula Floods and for his work on caves. Early life and education Bretz was born on 2 September 188 ...

Marie Tharp Marie Tharp (July 30, 1920 – August 23, 2006) was an American geologist and oceanographic cartographer. In the 1950s, she collaborated with geologist Bruce Heezen to produce the first scientific map of the Atlantic Ocean floor. Her cartograph ...

Frank Bursley Taylor Frank Bursley Taylor (1860 – 1938) was an American geologist, the son of a lawyer in Fort Wayne, Indiana. although Taylor himself disapproved of the hyphenated name. But even with Wegener's extensive extra research the idea did not achieve acc ...

Victor Conrad Victor Conrad (1876-1962) was an Austrian-American physicist, seismologist, and meteorologist. He was the first director of the Austrian seismological service and a reputed academician of international accomplishment. He was politically victimized ...

Andrija Mohorovičić Andrija Mohorovičić (23 January 1857 – 18 December 1936) was a Croatian geophysicist. He is best known for the eponymous Mohorovičić discontinuity and is considered one of the founders of modern seismology. Early years Mohorovičić wa ...

* Dan McKenzie

Response

List of revolutionaries

References

Further reading