Whose Theory Explained Continental Drift?

German meteorologist and geophysicist Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) published his theory of continental drift in 1912 (expanded in 1915 in The Origin of Continents and Oceans). He proposed that all continents were once joined in a supercontinent he called Pangaea ("all lands"), which began breaking apart about 200 million years ago. Wegener supported his theory with evidence including the jigsaw-puzzle fit of continental coastlines (especially Africa and South America), matching fossils across separated continents, and similar rock formations and glacial evidence on different landmasses. His theory was rejected by most geologists during his lifetime because he could not explain the mechanism driving continental movement. Vindication came in the 1960s with the discovery of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics.