Alfred Wegener is remembered as one of the world's foremost earth scientists for his idea that 200 million years ago all seven continents were part of a singular land mass that broke apart -- the theory of continental drift. Born in Berlin, Germany, Wegener earned a Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Berlin in 1905. In 1906 he and his brother Kurt, by making a balloon flight of 52 hours, set a new world record, easily breaking the previous record of 35 hours. Wegener also made the first scientific traverse of Greenland's ice cap during his first expedition there.

In 1906 Wegener joined a Danish expedition to Greenland as a meteorologist to study arctic climatology. After his return in 1908, he became interested in the movement of landmasses. Wegener noticed that the eastern coast of South America and the western coast of Africa appear on maps and globes as if they were two...