![]() The first time was by the mapmaker Abraham Ortelius in the 16th century. The theory had been proposed before, more than once. ![]() ![]() On a balloon ascent undertaken to carry out meteorological investigations and to test a celestial navigation method using a particular type of quadrant (“Libellenquadrant”), the Wegener brothers set a new record for a continuous balloon flight, remaining aloft 52.5 hours from 5–7 April 1906. The two pioneered the use of weather balloons to track air masses. He worked there with his brother Kurt, two years his senior, who was likewise a scientist with an interest in meteorology and polar research. In 1905 Wegener became an assistant at the Aeronautisches Observatorium Lindenberg near Beeskow. Most importantly, he heeded Planck’s injunction never to consider any form of a theory as final, and to think of “good theory” simply as that mode of treating phenomena that corresponded to the actual state of a science at that moment-and never to one's aspirations for it. He adopted a caution, bordering on aloofness, in offering mechanical models and causal explanations, especially of the sort that only confirmed what one knew from experience without adding anything to the facts. Wegener took away from Planck’s teaching a strong commitment to brevity in the service of clarity. His teachers in Berlin included Wilhelm Foerster for astronomy, and Max Planck for thermodynamics. Wegener studied Physics, meteorology and Astronomy in Berlin, Heidelberg and Innsbruck.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |