Alfred Wegener was the youngest of five children and was born on November 1, 1880. His father was an evangelical minister who ran an orphanage. Wegener grew up in Berlin, Germany, and as a young man always dreamed of exploring Greenland and had an interest in meteorology at an early age. Alfred attended Friedrich Wilhelms University where he earned a bachelor's degree and later a doctorate in Astronomy, but after graduation he concentrated primarily on the study of meteorology. In 1905 Alfred went to work with his older brother at the Aeronautischen Observatorium Lindenberg in Beeskow. The two brothers would be the first to experiment with the use of weather balloons to study air masses. Alfred Wegener was a pioneer meteorologist and explorer not only in the studies of meteorology, astronomy and polar exploration, but also conceived the concept of the theory of continental drift. During his lifetime, Alfred was probably best known for his theoretical studies of meteorology and his explorations in Greenland. He participated in four separate expeditions to Greenland in which he and the team he was assigned to study the last unknown portion of Greenland's coastal area. After returning home from his first expedition in 1908, Wegener obtained employment at the University of Marburg where he taught meteorology, applied astronomy, and physics. While teaching at the University of Marburg, he wrote Thermodynamik der Atmosphare (Therodynamics of the Atmosphere). In this textbook he included many of the results obtained in the first expedition to Greenland. This book became the first textbook in the study of meteorology. Alfred Wegener went on 3 other expeditions to Greenland in his life... middle of paper... misphere. The evidence obtained from fossils in modern laboratories is much more accurate and only increases the possibility that Wegener's theory was actually correct. Although during his lifetime he was primarily known for his work in meteorology and polar exploration, it is his theory of continental drift that will make him forever remembered. Works Cited Hoffman, P. F. (2012). The Tooth of Time: Alfred Wegener. Geoscience Canada, 39(3), 102-111.CHESTER, R. (2008). Chapter 6: CONTINENTAL DRIFT: A THEORY WITHOUT CAUSE. In , Furnace of Creation, Cradle of Destruction: A Journey to the Birthplace of Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis (p. 86). American Management Association International.Alfred Wegener Biography. (n.d.). About.com Geography. Retrieved February 19, 2014, from http://geography.about.com/od/historyofgeography/a/Biography-Of-Alfred-Wegener.htm