recollections
plates (late 1960s)
4/5

It was in that room, around 1968, that a colleague from the Geography Department told me about plate tectonics. It was when this theory and terminology were gathering increasing acceptance. I remember feeling somewhat sceptical at first. It sounded to me like an outlandish idea, that the continents of the earth should be floating on these moving plates, deep underground. Indeed, I believe that not a few geologists themselves remained sceptical about the idea for quite a time. But I remember more clearly the enthusiasm of my friend (whose identity I have forgotten), his eyes shining as he explained to a lay person what a great breakthrough was being achieved.

Today, I think, everyone takes this discovery for granted, and it explains, for instance, the disastrous tsunami of December 2004. Several tectonic plates off Java moved against each other, causing enormous bursts of energy through the sea, which in turn caused the catastrophes which ensued when the resulting wave hit shore-lines and became walls of water. For footage of the tsunami in Indonesia, click here.

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