<P> During his lifetime he was primarily known for his achievements in meteorology and as a pioneer of polar research , but today he is most remembered as the originator of the theory of continental drift by hypothesizing in 1912 that the continents are slowly drifting around the Earth ( German : Kontinentalverschiebung ) . His hypothesis was controversial and not widely accepted until the 1950s , when numerous discoveries such as palaeomagnetism provided strong support for continental drift , and thereby a substantial basis for today 's model of plate tectonics . Wegener was involved in several expeditions to Greenland to study polar air circulation before the existence of the jet stream was accepted . Expedition participants made many meteorological observations and were the first to overwinter on the inland Greenland ice sheet and the first to bore ice cores on a moving Arctic glacier . </P>
who was the german meteorologist who pioneered the theory of continental drift and plate tectonics
Wegener