The idea of continental drift was first comprehensively proposed by Alfred Wegener, a German meteorologist and geophysicist, who presented his hypothesis on January 6, 1912. He suggested that all continents were once part of a single supercontinent called Pangaea, which later broke apart and the pieces drifted to their current positions
. Wegener's theory was based on multiple lines of evidence, including the jigsaw-like fit of continental coastlines (notably South America and Africa), similarities in fossils and rock formations across continents, and climatic evidence such as glacial deposits found in now tropical regions
. Although the concept of continents fitting together had been noted earlier by others such as Abraham Ortelius in the 16th century and Antonio Snider- Pellegrini in the 19th century, Wegener was the first to formulate a detailed, evidence-backed hypothesis of continental drift and to use the term itself
. Despite the compelling evidence, Wegener could not convincingly explain the mechanism driving the movement of continents, which led to skepticism among geologists at the time. It was only decades later, with the development of plate tectonics and understanding of seafloor spreading, that Wegener’s ideas gained widespread acceptance
. In summary, Alfred Wegener is credited with proposing the idea of continental drift in 1912, laying the foundation for modern plate tectonics theory.
