BAMOS Flashback
Terry Hart AMOS History Special Interest Group
BAMOS April 2021
19 the role of turbulence in the energetics of the atmosphere . He also noted Wegener ’ s fundamental contribution to the study of the ice phase in the atmosphere and the recognition that the co-existence of liquid and ice is a thermodynamically unstable state . Bergeron and Findeisen developed this further , specifically at the importance of it in clouds — of the rapid growth of ice crystals at the expense of surrounding cloud water droplets — which is now called the Wegener-Bergeron- Findeisen process .
However , Loewe spent most of his talk covering the most controversial of Wegener ’ s theories , that of continental drift that he proposed in 1912 . Loewe noted that in Wegener ’ s life-time the theory was accepted by many palaeontologists and biologists as a convenient explanation for the presence of closely related plants and animals in widely separated places . However , it was rejected and disparaged by most geologists , mainly because there was no known mechanism for the movement of continents .
Speaking in 1970 , Loewe was able to report that scientific opinion had now changed , due mainly to the results of the new field of paleomagnetic studies that had begun in the 1950s . The movement of the continents was now accepted as mainstream and the original concept of continental drift was developing into the theory of plate tectonics , now of great power in understanding the geology of the earth and of much practical application .
Loewe seemed pleased that this most controversial theory of his friend and mentor had been vindicated . He concluded that , had Wegener lived to the age of his father-in-law , the climatologist Köppen , he would see his theory of continental drift widely accepted . And also that the questions he had asked about the Greenland ice sheet were being answered with the aid of scientific , technical and financial means far beyond anything he could have expected . However , at a personal level he felt Wegener would “ be happy , but he would not be proud , and certainly he would not be vain .”
The work of Wegener is continued in the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research based in Bremerhaven , Germany .
While remembering the role of Wegener in plate tectonics , we can reflect on the tectonic events in human affairs that brought Loewe to Australia and the beneficial contribution he made .
The Loewe lecture theatre at the University of Melbourne commemorates this pioneer of Australian meteorology .
Alfred Wegener . Photo source : Wikimedia Commons .
References
Loewe , F ., 1970 . Alfred Wegener – his life and work . Aust . Met . Mag ., 18 , 177-190 .