He mapped out the theory ...

[Michael Grove]

  300 years before scientists took it seriously.

  To celebrate the anniversary of the world’s first atlas

  published in 1570, a Google Doodle on Sunday depicted

  the famed Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, or Theatre of the 

  World, which was published by the Belgian cartographer

  Abraham Ortelius. The book was unique for its collection

  of maps organized geographically, but this concept would

  later become the standard for developing atlases.       

  THE speculation that continents might have 'drifted' was

  first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596. He had

  proposed that the continents of Africa and America could

  be fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle and that the Earth

  originally had only ONE MEGA-CONTINENT, which is now

  known as Pangaea, ancient Greek for ENTIRE EARTH.

    


  The concept was independently and more fully developed

  by Alfred Wegener in 1912, as a result of his geological

  findings in Africa and South America; but his theory was

  rejected by many for lack of any motive mechanism.

  I well remember reading about both Ortelius and Wegener 

  in our superbly equipped Grammar School Library, during

  the time that I was studying Geography/Geology, and told

  to 'forget about such nonsense' by my tutor at the time,

  only to realise the truth many years later, when working

  with Rex Beddis on the OUP Volcanoes Project. 

[Michael Grove]

[Michael Grove]

  Climb to the top of erupting volcanoes and relive the devastation caused 

  by earthquakes to discover how they created the Europe we know today.

[Michael Grove]

 Volcanoes may have shaped Europe, but they could also destroy it.

 Find out how ticking volcanic time-bombs threaten the continent's

 existence.