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This article profiles Harry Hess, who is known as one of the truly remarkable Earth scientists of the 20th century. It describes the historical background of continental drift, ideas upon which his theories were built. The site goes on to discuss the work of Hess as a World War Two naval commander, during which he developed a system for estimating the daily position of German submarines and discovered guyots. The site explains that the postwar period was a revolutionary one for the earth sciences. Efforts to map the ocean floor intensified, thanks in large part to the newly-created U.S. Office of Naval Research. Within a few years, a curious terrain had emerged: vast, flat plains interrupted by ridges, or more precisely, vast mountain ranges. The groundbreaking hypothesis of Hess, which was vital to the development of plate tectonics theory is covered as well as his work analyzing moon rock samples retrieved by the Apollo 11 crew.
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This is an excerpt from Earth: Inside and Out, edited by Edmond A. Mathez, a publication of the New Press. Copyright 2000 American Museum of Natural History.
DLESE Catalog ID:
DLESE-000-000-005-795
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